Blood of the Valkyrie
by Cleo28
Summary: Spin-off of Newborn and Blood of the Lily. Rated T/M Lily, a close friend of Beth Turner, is a normal young girl. But fate brings her into another world and time. Her whole life is called into question. She falls in love with an ancient, powerful vampire
1. Foreword

******Disclaimer:** I don´t own the original characters nor the idea of the TV Show Moonlight. I don´t earn money with this story.

_This fanfic is a spin-off of Newborn and Blood of the Lily. Jenna, thank you so much that you gave me your permission to use your characters and your Moonlight world. Feel hugged. _  
_I think I should mention that Mick, Beth and Josef won´t be the main characters in my fanfic. There will be two parts and they will appear in the second part. The main characters will be Gabriel and my own character._

_This is my first fanfiction and I hope that I can find some readers. Oh and of course, you can leave me reviews._

_Translated: Cleo28_  
_Beta: Moonjat54_  
_Jat, thank you for beta-reading._

_**Foreword**_

Fate. It is said that it would be the power that determines the life of humans. A prescribed path that is already planned since your birth and you cannot change it. This then brings into question whether it really is possible to take your own destiny in hand; to determine your life. Certainly it is possible the decisions you make in life, to chart a different path but is it really free will which allows you this or is it your fate which brings you to make the right decision?

Lily had never before thought about her fate. Why should she? Humans live their lives but sometimes you inevitably wonder; what if I had taken a different path at a certain point in my life. What then would my life look like? This question had led her to think about her fate and one thing was clear, her life had changed.  
Four weeks ago she had been living a normal, simple life and now she was in a mansion in Los Angeles. Many would say that she had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But was that really so? Or was it fate? She was sure that it wasn't the wrong time and the wrong place. Lily had gone to a meeting she had always enjoyed. This meeting made it possible to meet friends in reality that she already knew from the Internet. But then tragedy struck. Men dressed and armed like soldiers entered the room. She tried to erase the memories of that afternoon from her mind. She did not want to think about what had happened in the following hours. She did not want to see the terrible images again. She did not want to think about these insane men who had described themselves as the Legion and wanted to punish all in the room for their fondness for the mystery genre.

Now she was in the witness protection program. But somehow she thought it would be different. A new name, a new resume, a new job. But this was not going the way she had expected. Why not?


	2. Nothing is so like it seems

_Betsal, thank you for your review. :) _

_Jat, thank you very much for beta-reading. Feel hugged!_

**Nothing is so like it seems**

It was an unusual warm April day in Los Angeles. So Lily left the villa to go outside to the pool. She lay on a lounger and tried to enjoy some sun bathing. But questions surfaced repeatedly in her head which she wanted answers to.

For 4 weeks she had now been a guest in this house and nothing had happened to help her begin her life with a new identity. Jack, who had saved her from the clutches of the Legion was here also. It was somehow weird, his job at the police surely didn´t include his guarding a witness both day and night. In movies, the cops always changed and the witnesses were never housed in a villa. Every time she wanted to talk about this issue she did not get sufficient answers, only excuses. It would just take some time to get a perfect new identity she was told.

Lily had become attached to Jack. If she was honest, she could not imagine him suddenly not being part of her life. In just a short time Jack had become a close friend which surprised her because normally you don´t easily develope such close friendships so fast. They tend to grow over time. She heard footsteps coming towards her and then she felt a shadow steal the sunlight.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and blinked at Jack. "You are blocking my sun," she said with a smile. Jack took a step aside. "Is it better this way?"

"Yes," she answered him shortly as Jack sat down beside her on the lounger and turned his attention to the pool. He did not say another word which made her suspicious because usually Jack was never loss for words. She slowly sat up and moved beside Jack. Something was wrong. Has her hideout been discovered? An uneasy feeling spread inside her.

"Is something wrong?" She had to ask. Jack took a deep breath and took her hand.

"No, it's all right. I just need to discuss something with you and I do not know where to start or how to explain it to you at all." The behavior did not fit Jack. He seemed really nervous and that only strengthened her bad feeling that was slowly but quickly turning to fear.

Now she also took a deep breath. "Just start. It can´t be too bad." With this she tried not only to give Jack courage, but also herself.

"Lily, I ... I ..." Jack really seemed to struggle to find the right words but apparently he couldn't succeed.

"Jack, just say it. What is it?"

"I'm _not _a cop."

"What do you mean, you're _not_ a cop?" she asked now confused. That she had not expected and her fear turned to anger in a split second. Allowing her anger to show, she rose swiftly and was now stood in front of Jack waiting for an explanation. But Jack was now staring at his hands and made no real effort to give her an answer. His behavior only made her more furious.

"I´m waiting," she squeezed out the words from between her teeth.

Jack lifted his gaze. "Lily, calm down. Then I will explain everything to you."

"I should calm down?" She said in a shrill tone. "You have lied to me!"

"I have not lied to you. I have never told you that I was a cop. You just assumed it. Well, I must admit, I should have immediately corrected that, but then you would not have come along with me," Jack said quietly.

Lily could not believe her ears. If Jack was not a cop, was there no witness protection program? "And what about the witness protection program?" she asked him bluntly.

"Well, it does not exist. At least not the way it would normally. But we will protect you." Jack said hesitantly.

"It just keeps getting better! And who are WE?" She now yelled at him. Lily felt like the ground had been pulled out from under her feet. Where was she? What was going on here? She spun and walked away from him.

Jack got up and walked a few steps toward Lily. "Lily," he said in a calm, friendly tone," you have always trusted me till now. You are safe here."

She could really see how Jack tried to calm her, but she was not only incredibly angry with him but was also afraid. Afraid of what would happen, what he was telling her. Since that fateful afternoon, her life had changed and that fact only made her more afraid. And now she felt betrayed by Jack. She had trusted him and now it turns out that he had abused her naivety and her trust.

"Exactly, and I shouldn´t have given you that trust, as it turns out now," she answered him in a husky voice. She had trouble hiding her tears from him and no way did she want to break out in tears in front of him.

So she ran back the quickly into the house. She wanted to leave this estate as fast as possible. Before she closed her door, she could hear Anna, the owner of the villa, said to Jack: "That went wrong."

She hastily dressed herself in jeans and a top. She really did not need to pack because she had never really unpacked her few belongings from her bag. She had lived literally out of a suitcase for the last month. Only a few of her things were in the bathroom and in the washing machine.

When she came out of the bath, there was a knock at her door. "Lily, it's me Anna. Can I come in?"

She remained undecided at the door of the bathroom. She did not know whether she should let Anna enter or not. Anna had always been nice and friendly and when she met Anna, Lily had found her sympathetic from the first moment. Finally she said: "Come in."

Anna opened the door and saw Lily standing with her toiletries in her hand in front of the bathroom. She looked around and then saw the packed bag on the bed. "You want to leave us?" Anna said with regret.

"Yes, I think that is the best," Lily said without looking to Anna. She knew that anyone could read her emotions on her face and she didn't want to let her see her injured feelings.

"I do not think that it would be best, Lily. You really are safe here. I must admit that we should have put our cards on the table from the beginning but ...", Anna hesitated. She seemed to think very carefully about what and how she should tell Lily.

"Jack has really been thinking for a long time how to explain this to you and it looks like he has chosen the wrong option."

"Oh, and what would have been the right option to explain to me that I am not in the witness protection program or that he is not a policeman?" Lily did not prevent her voice from sounding shaky and injured.

Anna moved toward the bed, stopped briefly in front of it and turned to Lily. "How about if we sit down and talk. After that you can still go."

On one hand, she wanted to get away from this place as quickly as possible, but on the other hand she also wanted answers because there had to be a reason why she was here now. Her fate had brought her to this place. She was convinced.

She breathed deeply in and out and while doing that she went to the bed saying, "Okay!"

After both were seated on the bed, since that was the only place to sit in the room, Anna began to try and give an explanation. "Jack and I belong to a very old Order which has fallen into obscurity over the centuries. Only very few know of our Order and many of them think that we are only a legend. The Legion had made it to their mission to destroy the Order a long time ago. And by that I mean not only to destroy an organization, but also all the people who are associated with it. You have to know that our Order is not like a club in which anyone can join. We are automatically members because of our origins and we were able to survive because we have hidden ourselves. The Legion knows that we still exist and that many of our members know nothing about it because they have lived normal lives for centuries. We who know of the Order guard and protect the descendants. And Lily, you're one of those descendants."

Anna paused and looked intently at Lily. Lily could feel Anna's eyes on her and she did not quite know what to do with what she had just heard.

"Let's see if I understand this right," Lily said, "You are an order, say like the Templars and the Legion would be in this case the church. Or was it a king? It does not matter. And when this massacre happened to the Templars, there were some who survived and they had then secretly continued to exist."

Lily paused for a moment and then asked incredulously: "You aren't telling me that you are the Templars, are you?"

Anna could not resist a grin and answered her with a shake of the head: "No, we are not the Templars."

"Then who are you?" Lily had to ask the inevitable question.

"I knew you'd ask that," Anna said with a grin on her face. "But I think Jack should tell you this because it is his job."

"His job?" Lily asked confused.

"Yes, but first you should talk with Jack and after maybe you will still want to leave but you should know that we will always watch over you and protect you. And when you don´t know a way out or you need anything else, you can call me any time." Anna took a cell phone from her pocket and handed it to Lily. "My number is saved in the phone."

Before she left the room, she turned around and said to Lily: "Jack had has felt very guilty from the beginning for not telling you the whole truth. And when you talk to him no matter how crazy it might sound to you, please remember that he really is your friend."


	3. The Order Elhaz

_Hi! Here is the next chapter. Thanks for all your reviews. Let me know what you think about it._

_Thanks to Moonjat54 for beta-reading!_

**The Order Elhaz**

Lily thoughtfully sat on her bed. Jack was right, she would never have gone with him if she had known that he wasn´t a policeman. Then there were so many uniformed and civilian-clad police officers, paramedics and of course the press that she would not have thought that Jack wouldn´t be one. Especially since he had saved her; he has been there from the first. He had never told her directly that she was in the witness protection program, no, he had lied to the police when he had spoken with them. And then one of the officers had brought out a cell phone and told her she should call her family and say that she was fine and that she was now in the witness protection program. The phone call was anything but easy.

Her feelings told her that she was really safe here, that they wanted to protect her and she really did feel that way. Maybe she had been at the wrong place at a wrong time. There were apparently two groups, of which the public did not know about who fought against each other and she belonged to one of the groups without having known it before. But why do these two groups fight against each other? And did this Legion know about her origins? If this really was the truth, was it then her fault that the Legion had done attack? Did they come because of her? Had she been the target?

Lily took a deep breath and tried not to burst into tears. She had to talk to Jack. She had to know whether this attack of the Legion had been because of her. Determined, she got up and left her room. First she knocked on Jack's door but there was no answer so she continued her search for Jack. She found him in the living room. He was sitting thoughtfully on the sofa and had not noticed that she had entered the room.

"Jack," Lily said to get his attention and succeeding when Jack raised his head and looked at her. Lily could see in his face his guilty conscience, but there was more. It looked as if he felt he had failed. Before Jack spoke, he got to his feet.

"Lily ... I'm really sorry. I didn´t want to abuse your trust. I ..." in Jack's voice reflected what could be read on his face showing that his apology was sincere.

"Jack, I accept your apology," she said with a smile. "Only one thing I need to know: Was the Legion there because of me? Were they trying to get to me?" Lily could not keep the fear from being heard in her voice.

Jack went up to her and looked her straight in the face. "No, they were not there because of you. I think it was coincidence that you were there or fate, I do not know which."

Lily breathed deeply in relief. She did not know how she would have handled it if it would have been her fault.

"Anna told me that it is your job telling me everything about the Order," Lily said very curiously.

"Yes, it is. How about we sit down and I'll tell you something about that?"

Lily nodded and they sat down on the sofa. Lily felt like Jack was nervous and did not feel really comfortable. Presumably he was afraid of how she would react to what he was about to tell her.

"Jack, I promise you I will listen to you and not immediately run away," Lily let Jack know.

Jack smiled at her and pulled something from his pants pocket. "Lily, before I begin, I would like to give you something." Jack gave Lily a pendant attached to a leather strap. The round pendant seemed to be made of silver and in the middle was stamped a symbol. It was a V, which was bisected by a long line in the middle, the V was at the upper end of the line.

"Jack, thank you ... but ..." Lily did not know exactly what to say. Jack had never given her anything and if she was honest, this necklace was not to her liking, not to say ugly. She was sure she would wear it because Jack had given it her. The round pendant was quite okay, but the symbol on it bothered her.

"Lily, I admit that this necklace is just not very pretty," Jack said with a smile at Lily's hesitation. Jack must have seen the look on Lily's face and her critical expression said she did not like the necklace. Lily now looked at Jack and said nothing rather than say something that she would later regret. This prompted Jack just to start explaining.

"This is the symbol of our Order. It´s called Elhaz and that is what our Order is also called."

"Elhaz? I have never heard of it. What is it?" Lily asked now curious.

"Actually, Elhaz is a term for a rune. You know, each rune has its own name and meaning. Because of the meaning of this rune our Order has taken this name. Elhaz means life force. It is said that the rune provides protection and leads to victory by the natural life force and ... "

Jack paused for a moment and was interrupted by Lily. "Okay, that sounds all very nice, but what does that have to do with your Order?"

"Elhaz stands for something else. This rune represents the Valkyrie, too." Now Jack looked at Lily very closely. He didn´t want this conversation to end in disaster also. But she still looked encouragingly and Jack took a deep breath. "Our Order is also called „The Order of the Valkyries".

"Okay and what does this mean? So, I mean, do you pray to the Valkyries or something like that? Is the Order a remnant of this ancient pagan religion?" Lily asked expectantly.

"No, we don´t pray to the Valkyries. Um, the women in the Order _are_ Valkyries."

"What?" Lily was now confused.

Jack noticed Lily's confusion and quickly tried to find another way with which he could explain it to her better.

"What do you know all about mythologies and religions?"

"Well, I think, what everybody knows." She replied.

"In mythology and religion, there are things that really happened, or people who have really lived, but it does not necessarily mean that it was exactly as it is reported. Often there is a point of truth in these traditional stories, but most is not necessarily the truth, but has been embellished over the centuries."

"So, you want to tell me that probably my idea I have of Valkyries isn´t accurate?" Lily interpreted from Jack's statement.

"Exactly. Formerly they were very respected and had a special position in society. It was said they were very special women. The Order had laws that were intended to protect them, but now they don´t play as great a role because now it´s barely surviving." Jack paused to give Lily the chance to internalize what he has told her.

"And why were they special women?"

"Honestly, I don´t know for sure. In the ancient writings is always written that they were special. What exactly is behind it, I do not know because Valkyries are just ordinary people. Perhaps it has something to do with their job that they were always referred to that way."

Lily didn´t give Jack an opportunity to speak further. The subject now captivated her completely. She did not even know why, because until now it was such a strange tale. But she could not hold back her curiosity. "What was their job?"

Jack smiled at Lily, because apparently this time he had found the right words and she seemed to be interested in the topic. Only he did not know how long she would still believe him. The question which she had asked was not easy to answer. He knew already that she would not believe everything he would tell her and he hoped fervently that she wouldn´t leave the house now.

"Let me think briefly, where to start," Jack began. Lily looked at him intently and did not give the impression that she was impatient as the minutes passed slowly.

"Well, I've already told you of our Order. There was another order you should know about. This order was actually more of an alliance between our Order and another group. This order was called Ehwaz."

Again Lily interrupted Jack. "Let me guess, it is also a term for a rune."

"Yes, you're right," Jack answered with a smile. "Ehwaz means partnership. This means that a harmonious relationship is formed between two forces which complement each other. And a beneficial symbiosis is only possible if both sides integrate the other rather than ignore it and exploit it. Loyalty and reliability are the foundations of this partnership. And if it works properly, it creates a unit which contributes to the benefit of the whole."

"That sounds pretty complicated and somehow mysterious." Lily said voicing her thoughts.

"Yes, that's true, but there is more to this description. The laws describe it clearly. But I cannot tell you all these laws in just a few minutes. I think this sums it up pretty well."

"What does this rune look like?" Lily wanted to know now.

"You can compare the rune with our letter M."

"M is for Michael?" Lily asked with a smirk on her lips. She liked talking with Jack and she wanted to create a relaxed atmosphere, because Jack was still quite tense while sitting next to her on the sofa. But somehow her lighthearted question missed the target because Jack looked quite surprised. Had she said something wrong? But what? Many people do that when they say a letter to compare it with a word.

"Jack, did I say anything wrong?"

"No, actually you did not. It just surprised me that you chose that name."

"It was the first thing that came to mind. I could have said mouse." Now she saw Jack was smiling. "Why did it surprise you?"

"Just because I read something about the origin of that rune and in that context the name showed up," Jack said, but it was clear that he did not want to dwell on it.

"And what now is the job of the Valkyries?" Lily asked, becoming impatient.

"Maybe I should tell you beforehand that there are two types of Valkyries, or I should say there were two because today there is only one. As I have told you before, every woman is a Valkyrie in our Order because of her origin. But earlier there were the so-called true Valkyrie. I would say that only this type of Valkyrie really deserves the name Valkyrie." Jack paused because he could see Lily's questioning, facial expression and that she was about to interrupt him again.

"There is another thing I wanna know. If all women are Valkyries in the Order, what then are the men?" Lily asked.

"Um, we are Fylgjur. In the mythology we are represented as female, but ... well, we are not. We are kind of guardian spirits who accompanies a person from birth and watch over him. Over time, the word guardian arose. Well, ... and I´m your guardian," Jack answered Lily's question.

"My guardian? What do you mean, you are my guardian?"

"That means I'm responsible for you and it is my job to protect you and to explain the habits of Valkyries, the laws and a few other things. Lily, I know that this must sound to you pretty crazy to you. I grew up with it and therefore I have a different understanding of the Order and what is behind it. And I also know that I´m not able to explain everything at once," Jack said, and hoped she would understand and she won´t run away angry.

"You are responsible for me, is that right?" Lily asked irritably. "I thought, as an adult I am responsible for myself." Lily's eyes flashed angrily at him.

Jack knew that he now under no circumstances should say something that would make her more angry. Because he knew that Lily was proud and valued of her independence, her freedom and her rights. "You're right, Lily. You are responsible for yourself. And I should have explained it better. Usually, the laws of the Order have always adapted to new circumstances. Only since we now live in the underground, the laws of the Order haven't been enforced as closely and that is why they (haven't) been changed in the past centuries and ... "

"Okay, I understand. It wasn't so long ago that women gained equal rights," Lily said with understanding. "But now I really want to know what was the job of the true Valkyries?" she said to him with an impatient expression. Patience was not one of her strengths.

"Valkyries were when they were members of the Order Ehwaz something like a policeman and a judge in the same person. They were responsible for compliance with the rules and to punish those who violated these rules. However, they didn´t do it alone because that they would not have been able to. I know it is a very short description and I will gladly tell you more about the old stories, laws and rules. I think that I have given you enough to think about right now."

Lily was taken aback by his last sentence. Jack had never said something like that to her. And how much more was there for her to learn? Okay, it seemed she landed among by people who believed in things that fall within the range of myths and legends and it was a little crazy. But at the same time very interesting. And just as it appeared that Jack and Anna seemed to be the good ones who wanted to protect her from the Legion. Lily knew one thing for sure the Legion was ruthless and brutal. And they would stop at nothing to enforce their views and their conception of the world. And now she was also on their hit list of that, she was sure.

Jack was already making preparations to get up when Lily asked a further question: "Well, there is one thing I´m still interested in and then we can stop for the question-and-answer session for today. Who were the Allies? Who was this other group?"

Jack took a deep breath and weighed in on whether he should immediately tell her the truth, or make up this nice mythological version. He looked at her and once again saw her eager, curious look. And he did not want to give her the feeling he was abusing her trust again. Sooner or later she would know both. He opted for the truth.

"Does it mean that you stay here?" Jack just had to ask this question before he answered.

"Yes, but you have not answered my question. Who were they?" Lily´s gaze on Jack.

"Lily, this other group still exists," Jack said seriously.

"Okay, who are they?" Lily asked, and could not suppress a rolling eyes.

Jack prayed that she would not leave the room immediately or would regard him as crazy. Finally, he answered clear, simple and sincere: "Vampires." 


	4. Fraternal Attack

**Fraternal attack**

Jack did not know exactly how much time had passed. Maybe a couple of minutes, maybe even an hour. The sun had begun to set making the living room become much dimmer. Not much longer and they would be sitting in the dark. So far Lily had not left the room hastily, nor insulted him and called him mentally ill. Silence. Lily was only silent. He could not believe it but now he wished she would simply yell at him. The silence was just unbearable. Jack had expected anything, but not this silence. He tried to read on her face what she was thinking, but there was nothing. Her face reflected exactly what she thought of his last spoken words: silence.

"Lily, ... please say something." Jack tried to break the silence, he needed her to give him some statement. This silence made him just mad and helpless but there was no reaction from Lily. She didn´t look at him, her gaze was still on the door. Desperately, he ran a hand through his brown hair and then down his face. Something was wrong. She seemed almost apathetic.

Determined to break this silence, Jack got up and knelt in front of Lily. He took her hands in his and looked her questioningly, but also with understanding on his face. "Lily, talk to me. What is it?" Jack tried again. This time he managed to get her attention. Her eyes were no longer directed at the door. She looked directly now at him, but she still did not utter a word.

"Lily, ... please," Jack's voice this time sounded desperate and worried. There was a reaction from Lily, but not the one he had expected. Tears ran down her cheeks. Jack could not help himself but sat down on the sofa next to her and hugged her, trying to comfort her. It broke Jack's heart to see her crying. He did not understand the world anymore. Was the word "vampire" to blame, was that now the reason she sat weeping on the sofa? He could not imagine that, after all, Jack knew that she loved the mystery genre. She had not only read Harry Potter but also vampire novels and she had even travelled all this way to this meeting which was all about mystery.

It had to be something else. But what? Lily was a strong woman and this collapse did not suit her properly. After the attack of the Legion Lily had been composed. She had been neither shocked nor looked traumatized. She had continued to live as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile it was dark. Jack was still comforting Lily in his arms. It took a while until her tears slowly dried and she broke away from Jack's embrace. "Jack, ... I ..." were the first words Lily addressed to Jack.

"Lily, everything is okay." Jack tried to encourage her, showing her that it is no weakness to show feelings. "What's going on?" He had to ask her the question that bothered him.

Lily took a deep and hesitant breath. Her posture clearly showed that she did not feel well. "Jack, your story of this Order, to which you belong … and I guess I do too was really very interesting. And I also believe that you really believe it. In any case, you have given the impression that you take all these myths and legends very seriously," Lily stopped and breathed deeply again. "Strangely, it doesn´t bother me that you believe in the existence of the Valkyries and vampires. Everybody believes in something."

She hesitated, and then continued with conviction: "But they do not exist, Jack. They exist only in books and movies. They are a product of our imagination. And the trouble is that such people like the Legion are apparently convinced that vampires exist. And they seem to really hate them. They hate them so much that they direct their hatred against people who just like to immerse themselves in their free time in a fantasy world to forget reality for a few hours or to escape from a dreary everyday life."

Now Jack knew what was going on. The word "vampire" was only the trigger. Lily had not even talked about what happened the whole time she was here. And if Jack and Anna wanted to talk to her about it, she found an excuse every time. Now Jack was really aware of how badly she was traumatized and actually he should have known it. Everyone would be traumatized after something like this. And because she had so masterfully hidden it from them, Jack hadn´t thought about it anymore. She had just suppressed it and not dealt with it.

"Lily ...", Jack said hesitantly, "... I'm sorry. I didn´t want to bring back horrible memories... I wanted to tell you the truth. I wanted to show you that you can trust me."

Jack had just said the last word, when the living room door was opened and Anna flipped on the light switch. The sudden flash of light made Jack and Lily squint their eyes.

"Why are you sitting here in the dark?" Anna asked in amazement.  
"Um ... because ..." Lily started and turned her gaze on Jack for help.

"Well, it doesn´t really matter," Anna interrupted Lily, recognizing her insecurity. "And? Did you two of you talk?" Anna wanted to know now.

"Yes, we did," Jack replied.

Anna went to the chair that was located across from the sofa on which Jack and Lily had taken place and sat down. "And Lily? How does it look? Are you staying with us or are you going?" She asked in her relaxed way.

Lily didn´t answered immediately and Jack could see that she was unsure. Although she had previously answered yes, but if it was still so, Jack was no longer completely sure of it.

"Um ... Anna, you know, I think we should give Lily the opportunity to think in peace about it."

"Of course," Anna said approvingly.

Jack could see how Lily breathed deeply and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she looked first at him and then to Anna. "Well, ... I think I'll stay. After all, it looks like, you want really to protect me from the Legion. Although it is quite strange to what you believe in but until now I've actually always felt comfortable and welcome," Lily answered Anna's question. Jack was relieved. She would stay.

"Lily, I'm sure you've made the right decision," Anna said with a smile.

Suddenly the bell rang at the front door. Anna got up quickly and walked briskly with a questioning and irritated facial expression to the door. Jack got up at the same time with Anna. However, he was still undecided and stood still next to Lily, who looked up worried and almost frightened to Jack.

"Lily, stay here. I will see who's at the door," Jack said in concern and also left the room fast. Now, Lily was alone and she tried not to panic. The Legion were not the type to just ring the doorbell. She still had to find something with which she could distract herself. She looked at her hands and then she noticed that she was still holding Jack's necklace. She looked at it again, and without thinking, she took the leather strap which fit easily over her head and hung it around her neck.

Despite the closed door she could hear voices from the corridor. They talked excitedly. But what they are talking, she could not understand from her seat. Lily's curiosity prompted her to get up and walk to the door. She just had to know what was going on. Slowly and carefully she opened the door so much that she could look through a crack in the hallway. She could just see, like a group consisting of men and women left the hall to go into a room, she was unfamiliar with.

Then Anna and Jack came from the so-called library. It was amazing how many rooms this building had and beneath them was a small library. Jack and Anna were talking excitedly. She could hear how Jack said desperately, "And what if it does not work?"

Anna then replied confidently: "It will, Jack."

Then the others came back from that other room, and Lily had to hold her breath when she saw that they were now armed. Her thoughts began to move rapidly. The Legion had located her. She knew that she shouldn´t panic now, but that was easier said than done. Jack came over to Lily, but she didn´t notice right away because she was looking in a different direction, trying desperately to stifle her panic.

"Lily ... listen to me," Jack appealed strongly to Lily. Then Lily looked at Jack. "Go quickly and pick up your stuff. We meet again here. We need to get out of here. Fast."

Without a reply, Lily ran as fast as she could up, ripped open the door, which banged against the wall and grabbed the ready-packed bag on her bed. What an irony of fate. A few hours ago she had put the bag here to leave Jack, Anna and this house. And now she could save precious minutes because she had already packed her things.

In no time she ran down the stairs again and at the end of the stairs she ran into an armed man. She remained rooted to the spot and felt like her heart had taken on a frequency that no longer was in the range of normal. The panic was written literally in her face. The man gave her a friendly smile and said to her: "Do not panic, nothing happened" Then he continued on his way.

Lily breathed deeply twice and then forced her legs to move again. When she arrived back at the living room door, Jack was not there. Waiting in this situation was pure agony for Lily. The seconds seemed to last for an eternity. When Jack finally showed up with a packed bag in his hand, she was breathing easier and the sight of him her feel safe.

When Jack came closer, he said to Lily: "Come with me!" Lily followed him but she had expected that they would go into the garage and not in the library. It was a beautiful room that really invited a person to read and contained three doors. She had always wondered why this small room had three entrances. On the day she arrived at the mansion, Jack had given her a quick tour of this room. She had still had her bag in her hand then and they had entered by another door.

"Jack, what is happening? You said we have to leave immediately," Lily screamed at him paralyzed by fear.

Jack replied calmly: "That we will."

And then Lily could hear a shot. "Oh my God, Jack. The Legion is already here," While she spoke the words, she had already tugged on Jack's arm to pull him out of the library. Jack dropped his bag and grabbed Lily's arm to stop her. "Lily, calm down. We still have a couple of minutes." Now, more sounds from the outside pushed into the small library. There was clearly a fight.

"I should calm down? Are you crazy? Let me go! We need to get away. The Legion can be here any minute!" Lily pleaded desperately to Jack.

Jack tightened his grip on Lily's arm and took to the other one, too. Then he turned her that she was looking at him directly and spoke soothingly to Lily, who fought tenaciously to free herself from Jack's grip. "Lily, calm down. We are being attacked, but it's not the Legion. They are our own people." 


	5. Escape into the past

_Author´s note:_

_In this chapter I am including a formal way of addressing people which was used in the Middle Ages and also later. In German we have two words to say "you"; today one means second person singular and the second one means the second person plural. But in those days the second meaning was also a formal way of addressing people, especially the noble men and women. In translating this to English, I will capitalize the word "you" when using the formal word._

_Thanks for all your reviews. Jat, thank you for beta-reading. _

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54_

**Escape into the past**

"What?" Lily could not believe what Jack just told her. What had she landed in? First the Legion, then their own people. What was going on? What had she stumbled into?

"Lily, I cannot explain it now. We have no time," Jack said out of breath. "I want you," he continued explaining, "to run through that door if I can open it and only stop when you hear no more sounds of battle."

"Okay," Lily said in understanding and stopped to loosen Jack's grip. Apparently this door was an escape route, a way to get out of the building undetected. Jack let go of her, took a key from his pocket and went to the door. The shots seemed to come closer. Jack took a deep breath before he put the key into the lock. Lily could see how he closed his eyes and softly whispered: "Please, let it work. Let fate be on our side." Then Jack turned the key and opened the door. He turned back to Lily, took a few steps toward her, grabbed his bag and said to her. "Well, here we go."

Together they moved toward the open door. Lily could see beyond the door frame there was nothing but darkness. Now, voices from the corridor reached Lily's ear. The attackers were not far away from them. Lily lifted her bag to her chest and held it firmly with her arms. Then she heard Jack saying: "Run!" Lily ran as fast as she could into the darkness. It was an eerie and helpless feeling to run blindly through this passage. But it was definitely better than falling into the hands of these invaders. She hoped that she wouldn´t stumble or run into something. Slowly, she could see a faint light in front of her and she felt, how the ground beneath her changed. It now felt softer.

After a few steps she could see that she was now in a clearing in the forest. She stopped and tried again to catch her breath. She looked around. Around her were deciduous trees. In the sky she could see the stars and the moon. This sight almost took away her breath, for so many, so bright stars she had never seen before. She had grown up in a big city and she knew that the artificial light limited the view of the stars. She turned around and saw Jack standing behind her and looking around searching. She did not know how long she had been running, but it had to have been a good distance because she couldn´t see any houses or the lights of the city when she looked in the direction from which she had come. She saw only trees. Strangely, she had not noticed that she had run through a forest.

Then she heard Jack laughing with relief: "It really worked." Jack's statement sounded strange to Lily. Of course their flight had worked and they stood in the middle of nowhere. But it also could have ended differently if they had been pursued. But apparently, no one had followed them. And they appeared to be safe.

"What has happened to Anna?" Lily had to ask this question because she were very worried about her. Anna had not been with them. She was still somewhere in the house.

Jack then looked at Lily, and saw her worried face. "Nothing will happen to her," Jack said to her confidently.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because Anna is the head of our Order and even that bastard will not dare to harm her," Jack said angrily, "because he needs Anna alive to get what he wants."

"And what does he want?" Lily asked excitedly.

"He wants to be head of the Order and change our laws according to his abnormal ideas," Jack said, now more quiet and continued almost gently: "Lily, we should find out where we are."

"What do you mean, where we are? You must know it, after all, you knew the escape route," she said upset and confused.

"Wait ... I can help you guess. We are in a forest near LA," she continued ironically, letting her bag sink to the ground after she had held it desperately. Meanwhile she had had enough! First this cruel attack by the Legion, then waiting weeks for an alleged new life which had turned out to be a lie, then this crazy story about Valkyries and vampires, shortly followed by this mysterious attack and now he does not know where they are!

"We are not in a forest near Los Angeles, Lily. We would have had to walk miles to be in the middle of a forest. And we are not," Jack replied to Lily's sarcastic statement staying calm and composed.

"Really, yeah? And where could we be in your opinion? Because one thing is clear, we are definitely in a forest," Lily said sarcastically.

Jack took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Lily ... this door never was a normal escape route to take us away from the house. It is a portal which, if the fate allows it, would bring us to another time in another place," Jack said.

Lily looked at him first with big eyes and then she began to laugh loudly. She could not stop herself. And at the same time it felt good, because the laughter had a liberating effect as she released her inner tension. The last hours had been simply too nerve-wracking. It was just too funny, what she had all heard up to now from Jack. He really had to be a tiny bit crazy, tiny ... no, totally crazy. But she just could not help but like him anyway but under normal circumstances she would have broken off contact with him immediately. Laughing, she now said to Jack: "You´re kidding, Jack!"

Jack breathed deeply again and shook his head. How could he make it clear to her that they really were in the past. He did not know where and when, but he knew it had worked. And they should find out quickly where they were, and whether somewhere in the vicinity was located a house of the Order. There they would be accepted in and could hide for a while.

After endless minutes of laughter Lily calmed down again, she took a deep breath and then looked at Jack seriously. "Jack, I think we should leave this forest and try to find a road or a town. I'm getting very tired, and frankly, I have no desire to sleep in the forest."

Jack nodded in agreement and could not help saying, "Have you finished laughing at me now?"

"Jack, I'm really sorry that I have laughed at you, but you should hear what you are saying. This simply can't be true, what you are telling me," Lily said in a conciliatory voice. Then she bent down to pick up her bag, opened it and took out her jacket in order to put it on. It was pretty cold. "All right, we can go now."

It was not long until they arrived at the edge of the forest. However, for Lily it was like an eternity, to maneuver stumbling in the dark through the woods. Right next to the edge of the forest seemed to be a road. On the right side of the road was located the forest and on the left side was a grassland which was broken only occasionally by shrubs and scattered trees. The road was not paved or tarred and in some places where she could see it, it was pretty muddy.

"What do you think Jack? In which direction we should go?" Lily asked undecided.

Jack looked first to the right and then left. The darkness made it difficult to see the rest of the road and they could be happy that the moon gave them at least a little light. Without thinking, Jack just decided on a direction. "Now I'm going to suggest we go right."

"Okay," Lily said, and both were now side by side along the muddy path. It was not so long ago that it had rained, which made Lily somewhat suspicious, because it had not rained in the last days. And then something else happened, that puzzled Lily . The sun rose. But this could not be, it would still take hours for the sun to rise. She looked at her watch and it showed her that it was only 9 o´clock pm. Confused, she spoke to Jack: "Jack, I think my clock has stopped. What time is it?"

Jack stopped and pushed his sleeve a little high to see his clock. "According to my clock it is 9 o´clock in the evening." Jack turned and looked toward the east at sunrise. "We have to be in Europe," he said then.

Lily shook her head and mumbled: "Aw, bullshit," and walked on determinedly. She was not in the mood to deal with Jack and his nonsense. Jack followed her.

Slowly Lily's feet hurt. High-heeled shoes were simply not well suited for long walks over hill and dale. She stopped abruptly and sat down on the roadside in the grass. "My feet are killing me," Lily said in exhaustion.

"Yes, we should maybe take a break," Jack said, and sat down beside her. Now both sat in silence next to each other. Jack did not know what to say to her, and Lily, it seemed was having the same problem. The silence between them was a very strange situation, because normally they were always able to talk about something. "We should perhaps go further. The sooner we find a place, the better."

Lily nodded and Jack gave her his hand to help her get up. Just as Lily was back on her pain-giving feet, she looked in the direction from which they had come, and there came an outline of a wagon that was pulled by a brown horse. "Jack look," Lily said, and he turned around. When the wagon got to their position, the man pulled on the reins, and ordered the horse to stop. Lily could not help but to look at the man in surprise, because he was dressed really strange. To put it briefly, he looked like a farmer from the Middle Ages. "God bless You my lord and noble woman." And he talked that way also.

Jack immediately responded and said, "God be with you."

Then this man looked at Lily and stared pointedly at her pendant, and then at her pants. He shook his head blankly and then said, "You surely want to go to the castle. I can take You."

"That would be nice of you," Jack said, and then he took Lily's arm and pulled her behind him when she made no effort to move. When she sat back in the wagon and the vehicle was in motion again, Lily was glad she did not have to walk longer. The ride did not last long and soon they reached a castle built of stone. The farmer stopped in front of a large open gate. Above the door was a coat of arms and surprisingly it was the same symbol as in Lily's pendant. Jack and Lily climbed down from the wagon, grabbed their bags and Jack thanked him. Then they went to the entrance and when the farmer drove his horse forward again, he added disparagingly: "Now these Valkyries are wearing men's clothing."

Lily took a deep breath as she could see the bustle in the courtyard it was like a scene from a medieval movie, except that it appeared much more realistic. Lily held Jack by this arm, so he would look at her and then said: "Jack, I really do not know why you had a problem with just saying that we were to hide among people who like to pretend this is the Middle Ages."

Jack cleared his throat and then said quite seriously to Lily: "Doesn´t matter, whether you believe me or not. We are in the Middle Ages!"

Before Lily could say anything, a small, plump-looking man walked over to the two. He really stood out from the crowd, because his clothes differed from the people who were working. He also looked at Lily's necklace first and then said, "Welcome! It is an honor to welcome a Valkyrie and her guardian and to provide shelter. Perhaps we should first go inside." And then he made an inviting gesture with his hand. Jack and Lily followed the man. Lily found the man's reaction unsympathetic at first. This man had something about him that she simply did not like.

When they finally were inside the castle in a large room, the man introduced himself. "I'm Walter and the castle guard. As it seems You aren´t from this area. You wear strange clothes."

"Yes, we come from a distant land. We had to flee and now looking for a place where we can stay for some time. My name is Jack Paladin," Jack said in explanation to the castle guard.

"The gates of the castle are open to any Valkyrie and her guardian. It would be my honor if You choose, to stay here," Walter said politely, but not quite honestly.

"Thank you," Jack replied.

Jack nudged Lily lightly with his elbow in the side and looked at her encouragingly, because until now she had made no attempt to say something. "I'm Lilian Vanadis. But it´s okay if You just call me Lily."

"Well, Jack and Lillian", he said giving Lily's name a special emphasis, "You'll be my guests in the castle, I think it would be for the best if you adapt to our customs and mores. I will immediately arrange to get You proper clothes." Then he went with quicker steps through a door on the left side and returned a little later with a woman at his side.  
"Agatha, will show You Your chambers and give You appropriate clothing. It will not be long and we be ready to eat. Agatha then will show You the way." And then he disappeared again.

A little later, Lily was now in her new room. It was pretty simple. A large bed on which lay a large brown fur and the clothes that Agatha had been laid there, a richly decorated cabinet, a chair that stood beside a small table, a large fireplace and the room had two windows, one small and one very large window, which reached to the floor. Lily walked to the bed, put her bag in front of the bed and sat down on the bed sighing. She felt already that it was not very comfortable - just to hard. But she would gladly have lain down and slept just now, but there was probably no more time. Now her eyes fell on the clothes. The one dress, which should probably serve as a under dress was simple white, long sleeves and would probably reach up to her feet. The robe was red and had minor embellishments, but otherwise it was just like the white robe. In addition to the clothes there was a belt made of leather. Sighing, she stood up again, to get changed. When she slowly undressed, she had to think that maybe Jack could be right, because some things were a bit strange. But before she could really think about it, there was a knock at her door.

"Wait," she said and hastened to tie the belt. She looked around looking for shoes, which she finally saw standing in front of the bed. They were simple and made of leather. When she walked to the door, she quickly pulled on the shoes. She took another deep breath, put on a smile and opened the door.

She had expected Jack or Agatha, but in front of her stood a girl around 13-years-old who looked at her with shining eyes and an embarrassed smile. "Yes?" Lily said.

The girl lowered her eyes and said: "I'm Catharina. The daughter of the castle guard and I ..."

"Nice to meet You. I'm Lily. Are You here to tell me the meal is ready?" Lily replied kindly, after the girl had stopped in the middle of a sentence.

"No… um ... it takes a while," Catharina said shy,"... I just wanted to see …You."

"You wanted to see me? Why," Lily asked now confused.

"Um ... Agatha has said that we have a Valkyrie as a guest and I have seen Valkyries only from afar and um ... I was curious ... Please, do not tell my father that I was here," Catharina stammered and then ran quickly down the hall.

Lily still looked dazed after her until she was out of sight and was about to close her door again, but saw that Agatha appeared in the long straight corridor. Lily now went to Agatha and greeted her kindly. Apparently she had acted wrongly, because Agatha looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression.  
Lily wondered if she had violated any rules and she had to give credit to the people here, they really managed to remain in their roles. In any case that was what Lily had noticed.

Both now went into a room where there was a large table. Jack was already there and was talking while standing beside the table to this unsympathetic castle guard. Catharina was already sitting at the table and looked at her plate shyly.

"Lilian, it is nice that You're here. Now we may start the meal," greeted Walter Lily politely, but there was something in his voice, that Lily wasn´t able to understand.

Walter sat down beside his daughter, Lily would have actually expected that he would sit at the head of the table. Jack and Lily sat down and were now the two facing.

When all were seated, Agatha brought the food. She placed a plate with some slices of bread and cheese on the table. She then took a pitcher that was on a dresser and poured some red liquid into their cups. Then she heard Walter pray and when he had finished his prayer, he and his daughter took some bread and cheese. Jack and Lily followed their example. After a while Lily took a sip from her cup and discovered to her amazement that it was wine. Jack saw Lily's surprise and whispered to her: "It is diluted with water."

Walter finally got the word: "How rude of me. Lilian, I haven´t introduce You my daughter Catharina." Catharina stopped breathing a moment and Lily could see the little girl felt uncomfortable now.

"Catharina, nice to meet You. I'm Lily," Lily said gently to her, who then lifted her head and smiled gratefully at Lily.

"Well," Walter continued, and had his eyes aimed directly at Lily, "I have already spoken briefly with Jack and told him that this is not a house of the Order. Here there are no Valkyries or guardians living. However, every Valkyrie and every guardian may find shelter here, because my Lord wishes it so. I have not long been castle guard here and I submit to the wishes and commands of my Lord, even if I do not approve of them. We are not pagans but are all devout Christians. And I expect from You that while You are here as a guest, you respect our religious life. Of course I cannot expect that from a heathen like You, that You would develop within a few days into a devout Christian."

Had Lily understood him right about this? A heathen, like You are! That was an insult! Definitely that was an insult! What gave the castle guard the right to insult her! Why did he assume she wasn't also a Christian! Lily felt Jack take her hand, he had seen her tension and saw from her facial expression that Lily was very angry and said to her softly: "Stay calm, Lily!"

"I've believe in this regard that I have the right to punish You for non-compliance," Walter added seriously.

Now, Lily could not be silent anymore. "You have the right?" Lily asked angrily.

Before the castle guard and Lily could exchange another word, Jack said something quickly, so it would not end in disaster. "Walter, we have a long and arduous journey behind us and now we would like to rest." In order to emphasize his words, Jack stood up, and pulled easily on the Lily´s arm, so she rose from her chair also.

"Of course," the castle guard replied.

Despite her anger and the desire to give the castle guard her opinion, Lily let Jack take her with him out of the room. Before they reached the door, Lily could hear that Walter said something. "Jack, I almost forgot. I sent a messenger to my Lord. The messenger returned with the news that my Lord would like to meet You in the evening. He will arrive after the last meal today, which takes place at sunset. Until then, a good rest to You." 


	6. Archangel

_Hi! Here I´m again with a new chapter. Jat and Betsal thanks for your reviews. I like hearing what you think of each chapter. _

_Let me know what you think of this chapter._

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54_

**Archangel**

Lily lay awake in an uncomfortable, hard bed, but had her eyes still closed. She hoped that it was all a dream and if she opened her eyes, she would be back home and she would have her simple, quiet life back again. Until now, she simply could not bring herself to open her eyes. Her great fear was that this nightmare was reality. And truthfully, she knew that she was not home, because her bed at home was soft and comfortable.

She took a deep breath and summoned up her courage to open her eyes slowly. She simply could not prevent the wave of disappointment that came over her when she saw this barren, medieval castle room.

She got up discouraged. Before she had gone to bed, she had only taken off the outer robe. Now she was dressed in a petticoat and looked around the room thoughtful and unsettled. Through the large window she could see that the sun would go down soon. "What a bummer," she thought, "It won't be long and she would have to tolerate this pretend castle guard again."

Listless, she breathed deeply and suddenly had an urgent need to find a bathroom. Then it suddenly occurred to her that a bathroom didn´t exist in the Middle Ages and because these people here seem to want to recreate this all as it was originally, there would probably not be one.

On the small table stood a jug filled with water and a cup. When Lily saw it, she had an idea. She went to her bag, took out a towel and dentifrice, causing her cell phone to fall out of the bag. Lily picked it up, would put back in the bag, but decided differently and put it on the table. After she had freshened up, she put on the robe and stuck the phone inside the wide leather belt. Who knew if she would need it but she was sure that it would not seen under her belt. Now she hoped that she would not to have to run around in that dress for days.

Then there was a knock at the door and Lily opened it. In front of her was Catharina again and she smiled, not seeming quite so shy and immediately started to say something. "I wanted to thank You that You didn't say anything."

Then Lily replied honestly. "You're welcome." and before she had even spoken the last word, the girl was gone again.

Lily was about to turn again to go back to her room when she saw Jack, come out of his room, that was located right next to her room. His gaze was serious as he looked at Lily and said: "We need to talk!"

When both were in Lily's room behind the closed door, Jack began his speech. "Lily, I know you don´t believe a single word of what I´ve told you and I can even understand that. You have learned a lot in a short time and now that we are here that doesn´t make it any easier. You think these people here are fans of the Middle Ages, who meet to play at living in the Middle Ages." Jack took a deep breath and then continued: "But it is not a game. It´s serious, Lily. Your behavior can get you in big trouble. So, you think it's a game. Good. Then stick to the games rules! I know that you won´t find it easy in certain situations. And believe me, I don´t find it easy to assimilate to this life either." Jack stopped briefly and then continued on. "If you do not feel you're treated fairly, or anything else that makes you angry, then let your anger out just at me and scream at me when we are alone."

Lily looked at Jack with understanding. "Jack, I know we are guests here and should behave ourselves accordingly. And I also know that we need a place to hide. But even if I am a guest, that does not give anyone the right to insult me and insist on the right to punish me."

"Lily, please," Jack implored. Lily sighed and said finally: "Okay, I'll play along, but I have no idea what I´m allowed to do and what I'm not."

Jack breathed in relief. "Good. There is one more thing. We should not talk about where we come from, from what time we come, because this does not exist for these people here. By that I mean inventions, views, or the future history."

"Okay," Lily said promising then asked an important question that concerned her. "Jack, where is the bathroom, or more specifically, the toilet? I have to go urgently."

"Come with me. I'll show you. Um ... Only it's not really a toilet. They call it garderobe."

When Lily arrived with Jack at the garderobe, Lily knew what Jack meant. In front of her was a stone-carved, hollow, rectangular box that was located in a niche. In the middle of the stone block was an opening. There was not even a way to flush, or toilet paper, let alone a sink. The one happy fact was that it was not outside.

"I'll wait at the door," Jack said to her, and left the room. It was not long and Lily was standing next to Jack again. "Um ... Jack, where can I shower or take a bath here?" Lily wanted to know now. After all, it seemed that they would stay here a while.

"There will be a room somewhere, where a wooden bath tub is. However, before the water has to be heated and this will take time ... Perhaps we ask Agatha later."

"Good," she said, "we should go slowly to the banquet ..." When Lily and Jack were on the way, already in some places were lighted torches or candles, because in the corridors of the castle was it dark now.

Just in time for sunset they entered the great hall, which was used as a dining room. The castle guard Walter and his daughter were already in the room and Lily heard how the castle guard reprimanded his daughter in an angry tone. The fragments of the sentences that she could understand, were: "... you will have no further dealings with her. Got it?" Catherine had her head lowered.

Jack announced their presence by clearing his throat. Immediately the administrator of the castle turned to the them and greeted them with exaggerated and friendliness that felt false. Lily just could not like this guy it was certainly clear he was a man who was not happy with his life and he enjoyed exploiting his position and enjoyed his power over others.

The meal consisted of chicken, bread and wine. At first, everyone sat in silence at the table. Lily did not mind, although at any other time she really liked it to talk while eating, but she had no idea what to talk about with Walter? As Agatha began to clear the table, Lily wanted to get up and disappear into her room, but Walter began to speak. "It won´t take long and my Lord will arrive. I suggest that we talk a little bit until then."

Oh great, thought Lily, now she was forced to remain here and to talk with this obnoxious man. And she already knew that he would say something that that would drive her crazy. Later, she could shout at Jack, but if she was honest with herself, she did not want to do that. She did not want to let out her anger on him, which someone else had brought on. That was not fair. Then she had an idea, she could yell at him in her thoughts and could give him her opinion there. After all, even in the Middle Ages her thoughts were free.

Lily was so absorbed in her thoughts that she had not noticed that Catharina had left the room, when she noticed this, she looked questioningly at Jack, who just shook his head.

"Lilian," the administrator of the castle began in a demanding tone that allowed no protest from the others, "I was thinking that Your pendant that You wear is not appropriate and You should replace it with this one."

Walter now held up a leather cord on which hung a cross. Lily didn´t know to say for a moment. She didn´t find her necklace particularly pretty, but Jack had given it her so she liked it and wore it because of that. Lily knew why Walter did not like it, for he had told them so only a few hours ago. Lily's godmother had given her a necklace with a cross a few years ago, but she had never worn it. It was just not her style to wear a cross around her neck. Her godmother had given her the gift because she wished to give Lily a gift of love, but Walter had something else in mind. He wanted to impose on her his religion. She had nothing against the cross, and certainly nothing against Christianity, but Walter had assumed that she was not a Christian. Lily tried to suppress her indignation at this and she told herself that in the Middle Ages there was no religious freedom and it was apparently quite natural to try to bring everyone closer to Christianity and Walter just had no tact.

Lily felt Jack squeeze her hand and look at her pleadingly, as if to ask her to say nothing wrong. She took a deep breath, put on a smile and said politely: "Walter, this is really a nice gesture from You to give me a necklace. But I must unfortunately refuse your present, I can not accept such a gift." Lily now hoped fervently that he would not ask why she could not accept the necklace because she had no answer that would not be a lie. In order to take the sting out of the rejection of his gift she spoke again and at the same time took off her pendant. "But since it I do not wish to create a problem I will no longer wear my pendant." At least not so that you can see it, Lily added in her mind. That seemed to appease the castle guard, who had previously seemed to be becoming very angry.

Jack, who apparently was satisfied with Lily's response, then asked something quickly to prevent things from getting out of hand. "Walter, is a city located near here? Lily and I will need to buy some of our own clothing and other things very soon."

"Yes, is about an hour's walk to the city. There, You would find everything you need," Walter was happy to tell them.

Lily's heart jumped for joy. Not far away from here was a city. They could leave this place and his castle guard and try to find a suitable hiding place in the city. And besides, it would mean they would be back in their own time. "Jack, could we leave first thing tomorrow morning?" Lily asked with so much enthusiasm that her voice almost cracked.

Jack frowned at the excitement on her face. "Walter, would You please excuse us for a few moments? Lily and I should discuss something before Your Lord arrives." Walter nodded and Jack asked Lily to come along with him.

Seconds later, Jack and Lily were in a side room that looked more like an entrance, for on one side was a door which led outside. Jack looked at Lily apologetically. He was about to destroy her anticipation because he knew exactly where her excitement was coming from. She thought they would then be back in their time and that was just not going to be the case and Jack knew that he had to tell her this.

"Lily, we can to go to town tomorrow, only I fear that this city will not be what you expect and it will be a big disappointment to you. We really have landed in the Middle Ages. I do not know why, but fate would have it this way," Jack could see that Lily wanted something to say to that, so he lifted his hand slightly up and said: "Please do not interrupt me." It seemed to work, because Lily closed her mouth again. "This castle bears the symbol of the Order in the coat of arms and for all appearances, the lord of this castle is inclined toward our Order ... Only the castle guard not. Frankly, I do not know where else we should go. I do not know where to find the next real house of the Order although I think that this castle was once a seat of the Order. Only now I do not think it is anymore. And before we leave this castle permanently, we should take time to get to know the owner."

"Jack, can you stop with this medieval nonsense? It´s enough now," Lily said angry and hurt, then she continued calmer. "I was thinking that I should call Anna. She gave me a cell phone and said I could always call her. Maybe she was able to flee and is now looking for us. I can just try and see if I can reach her and then we would also know whether she is safe. She may know of a better hiding place."

"Lily, you cannot call her ...", Jack stopped. He could not tell Lily that it was Anna's idea for them to go through the portal.

"Of course I can," Lily said now loudly and very overwrought.

"Okay Lily, listen," Jack tried to calm Lily. He just did not know what to do, how could he make her understand that he was telling her the truth. And at the same time he felt himself to be the most miserable guardian ever, he could not even make his believe protege believe the important things. Wow, he had failed at his first job as a guardian. "You stay in this room and calm down some and I will go back to the castle guard to distract him, because I know that he is looking for something to throw us off balance. I am also convinced that it is his intention to force us through his hostile attitude and his statements to commit a serious error. If the castle lord arrives, I will come get you and I think we will have the opportunity to talk alone with him. We then can decide together whether we stay here or go. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Lily promised. Jack gave Lily a friendly smile and then left the room. Lily took a deep breath and it was not long before her anger disappeared and she just felt helpless. When she saw the pendant in her hand an uncomfortable feeling came over her because it almost felt like a deja vu. Maybe only 24 hours had passed, since she had been in a similar situation that ended with an attack. Actually, she did not believe in bad omens, but inside she just knew that today something was about to happen. Rather than hang the pendant around her neck, she fastened it to her belt.

Then she took her phone out from under her belt and switched it on with determination. She had not promised Jack not to call Anna. She held it up and realized that she had no signal. She held it higher in the air and then ran around in the room to find a place where she would get a signal. Disappointed, she lowered her hand again and stared intently at the useless thing: _This was so typical that the battery was dead or you had no network whenever you needed it._ Then her eyes fell on the small window and stepped closer, to try her luck. "Shit, no network. Surely it is because of the thick stone walls," she said, speaking more or less to herself. Inside the castle she would not have success. So she went to the exit and stood at the edge of the courtyard beside the stables.

She took a short breath when she felt the cool night air. There was a beautiful full moon this night. The moon rose shining in the darkness and the moonlight gave so much light that she could see her surroundings very well. She broke away from the view and looked around for far and wide there was no one to be seen. She breathed deeply and went back to her cell phone. She could already see the same result, that here there was no network as well. My God, where Jack has only taken them? To the end of the world? Though frustrated she would not stop, she thought there had to be a weak signal somewhere and she just had to find it. She turned around and stood facing the entrance door not for a second did she let the display out of her sight in order not to miss a signal. Frustrated, she exhaled and inwardly cursed the damn phone.

"Why is there no net?" It burst out of her in disappointment.

"Why should here be a net?" she suddenly heard from behind her a male puzzled voice saying and she froze. She thought she was out here alone. But apparently she was not, and she knew now that she had violated the rules. This would get her in trouble. As she slowly turned around, she replied defiantly, "Why not?"

When she saw the man who was in front of her, she was abruptly robbed of speech. He stood directly in the moonlight, she could see him clearly. He was tall and had nearly shoulder length, dark hair. His clothing consisted of a white shirt, dark leather pants in the medieval style and had a belt from which a sword was attached, his hand rested on the hilt. The clothing did nothing to hide the muscular, trained body underneath them. In short, he looked like a damn good-looking Hollywood star.

"A question should not be answered with another question," he countered with an astonished expression and the tone of voice not only indicated he thought her rude but also that he expected an answer from her. He exuded an incredible air of authority that brooked no opposition.

While Lily racked her brain as to why such a man would be involved in this medieval game playing, she found it hard to understand. Then she realized that some time had passed and she should have said something long ago, because now this man moved impatiently and had looked intently at her. Now Lily also noticed that slightly to the right behind him was another man who looked at her curiously.

"Well, if I understand things correctly, I first asked a question to which You have also replied to with another question," Lily said but she was still confident.

The stranger shook his head slightly taken aback and his lips twisted into a friendly smile as he told her, "You´re right. Only, Your question was a little strange. It is a new idea for me that nets should be hanging in front of a door. Perhaps You can first explain it to me before I answer Your question."

She was about to begin to respond, when she could hear Jack call her and she turned automatically to the door. And now she could even hear the castle guard, who scolded Jack: "Jack, apparently You are not making an effort to educate Your Valkyrie" Then she could hear Jack, as he said angrily to the administrator of the castle: "Enough!"

Lily's thoughts began to move rapidly in seconds. What had happened? What did this Castellan say to Jack that made him so angry? Jack had told her to swallow her anger and she was sure that Jack had been doing it also. And he had also said that there could be difficulties if they do not cooperate. Unconsciously, she held with her free hand the pendant on her belt and ran into the room. She had to stop Jack, before he said something, which they would later regret. Lily had completely forgotten the two strange men, and had not noticed that they had followed her into the room. Lily came to a stop shortly in front of Jack and grabbed his arm to get his attention. The two men were a bit behind her. One stood behind her left and the other one right.

When the castle guard saw the men, he immediately stopped and bowed slightly, in which he only moved his head slightly down. Jack looked at Lily, who now shook her head and whispered to him softly in his ear. "When we are alone later you can yell at me," Then she smiled at Jack and it seemed as if Jack was about to let loose his anger again. He took a deep breath.

However, there was still a tense atmosphere in the air. And it was not better when the castle guard started to say something after he had lifted his head again, but he still had his eyes directed to his Lord. Lily was still standing with her back to the two men and could not see who he was looking at. "Sir, welcome! May I introduce You to Your guests? Jack and Lilian. They come from a distant land."

So when Walter turned to Jack and Lily and now wanted to present them his Lord, she let go of Jack's arm, turned into the direction in which Walter had been looking and saw that the Lord of this castle was the man with whom she had already spoken to. "Jack and Lilian, may I introduce You my Lord Gabriel?"

Lily noticed that the castle guard was impatient and that his anger had not been gone long. Apparently there was something else expected from them as Gabriel and his still nameless companion still looked at her expectantly. And Jack seemed to not yet have his emotions under control. So she walked a few steps toward Gabriel trying to break the tension of the situation. Lily asked the owner of the castle with a charming smile a teasing question: "Gabriel, like the archangel Gabriel?"

Whereupon Gabriel once again looked at her puzzled. Lily had not expected that this would cause the castle guard to literally explode with anger when he exclaimed in outrage, "Lilian, how dare you!" As he spoke those words he charged toward Lily. Jack responded immediately, placing himself protectively at Lily's back. However, then something else happened, which Jack had not expected. Gabriel raised his hand in the direction of Walter and ordered in a strict and intimidating tone, "Stop!" Whereupon the castle guard paused in his movement. Then he turned back to Lily. With a smile he said: "Now I owe You two answers it seems."

Smiling and in a light, almost flirtatious tone Lily said: "Yes, You do. Can You give me an answer to my question this time?"

Lily could hear the castle guard gasp in outrage, and so it was clear that she and Jack probably were again in big trouble. Her "Déjà vu" would be confirmed.

Gabriel looked straight at her face and responded to her teasing question with a mischievous grin. "Yes, like the Archangel."


	7. Panic

_Hi! I´m back again with a new chapter. Thanks for your reviews. Let me know what you think of this chapter._

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54 Thank you so much taking your time for beta-reading!_

_Enjoy reading!_

**Panic**

Lily stood pensively in front of the large window in her bower and looked at the full moon. Agatha had made a fire in the fireplace and the warmth spread slowly in the very cool room. Lily's memories of the attack by the Legion and the events of the last hours made her shiver. And the warmth could not take away the cold feeling inside her. She always presented herself as strong and confident, but she was not. She knew that she was in danger and this alone made her very afraid and since then the fear had been her constant companion. She always tried to suppress the fear and didn´t show anyone, but it always lurked deep inside her. What was wrong with her? She didn´t know herself anymore. Previously, she had not been so afraid. On the contrary, she was rather brave and would not be intimidated so quickly.

Jack's explanations didn´t make it easier. On the contrary, it made her rather more scared because what if Jack had been telling her the truth? What if the stories about vampires and Valkyries were real? And were they really in the Middle Ages? No, it could not be true. She could not even consider the thought that Jack was right because that would be just too much. She just couldn´t handle it at the moment. She had promised Jack to play along, so she would do it as long as they were there.

But this castle guard did not make it easy. Lily had the feeling that he did not like her from the beginning and now even more clearly demonstrated it to her. In other circumstances she would give such a man her opinion and then never see him again. But that was just not possible at the moment. And Lily was surprised at herself, how quickly she responded to his insults. Usually she had a thick skin and let such insults bounce off, but she seemed to have lost it. And the idea that she now had to bear this man every day and how he would throw insults at her had left her resigned. She could not stand it much longer, her nerves were just too thin!

She felt quite tired. The few hours she had slept, had simply not been enough, so she went to bed and lay down. Only sleep was not easy, because so many questions swirled around in her head and this oppressive fearful feeling that she could just not shake off would not allow her to escape into a restoring sleep. She needed a distraction and the only one that she could think of was Jack.

Finally she got up to go to go find Jack and just to talk with him. Not about the Order or about this place that they were in. Just talk and feel safe, because she felt close to Jack and she needed that sense of security now.

With quick steps, she went to Jack's door and knocked. After the third knock and there still no answer, she began to worry. Jack had told her that he would be in his room. So she opened the door. The room was dark and there was no sign of Jack and his bag was still in the corner. Panic began to spread within her. Where was Jack? She knew that her panic was exaggerated undoubtedly he was here somewhere alive and well in the castle and talking to someone. But she just needed a proof.

Almost running, she went down the long corridor towards the stairs. Her panic didn´t make it easy to think clearly and logically. Where could Jack be? Outside? In the great hall? Perhaps in the toilet room? Hopefully nothing had happened, was the next thought that went through her head only increasing her anxiety. When she got put the stairs behind her, she forced herself to remain still and breathe deeply and calmly. She could not run hysterically through the castle, just because Jack wasn´t in his room. It took a while before she got her breathing back under control. Her heart pounded still too fast in her chest.

Determined she went on. At first she would look at the garderobe. But when she came to turn the corner, she could see the castle guard, who was giving some men and women instructions on what they still had to do tomorrow before more guests would arrive here. He blocked the direct route to the garderobe. Lily absolutely did not want to meet the castle guard now. Therefore, she ran as fast as she could in the other direction to put as much distance between herself and Walter. In order to ascertain whether he had seen her and maybe even followed, she turned her head to the side while running, to look behind her. And then suddenly she ran right into someone. Before she could turn her head forward again, she felt two hands quickly grabbed her by her arms and catch her gently. Her heart raced and her fast breathing was not only because of running so fast, but because her fear was still there as she looked into Gabriel's face.

Worried and alarmed, he asked: "Who is chasing You? Who caused You such fear?"

Out of breath, Lily replied him: "There´s … no one …. who ... is chasing me. I'm not afraid."

"Lily, do not lie to me! Who was behind You?" Gabriel said, now with a severe tone, looking straight into her eyes. Lily's thoughts turned over. He had called her Lily. How did he know that? Walter had presented her as Lilian and no one had called her Lily. And how the hell did he know she was scared and that she had lied? Okay, maybe it was obvious because she was running down the hall after all. But still, it was kind of strange.

When she answered him honestly, he continued to hold her. "There really was no one after me. I ... I didn´t want to meet Walter and therefore I ran in the opposite direction in order to gain as some distance." Her breathing had returned to normal and her heart beat was no longer quite so quickly. It confused Lily that she felt safe in his presence, and her panic was getting less.

Gabriel loosened his grip and then said quietly: "Well, that explains why You were running along here, but not why You are afraid."

What should Lily say? She knew herself how silly and hypersensitive, it was to panic, only because Jack was not in his room. And she was suddenly embarrassed that she had lost control of herself. She could not tell him that would be just too embarrassing. She did not want him to perceive her as a frightened, dependent woman who let every little thing cause her to panic.

Gabriel's eyes were soft and compelled her to answer him. Lily could not tell what it was, but she trusted this strange man who she had known only a few hours and had spoken to for a few minutes. But she could not tell him the truth. Not only because she was ashamed but also because Jack had said she should not say anything that did not fit in this game. And if she would try to explain it, she would inevitably talk about it. She stood still in front of him, his hands wrapped gently around her upper arms and looked into his eyes, which had a calm and promising expression of safety.

"Where's Jack?" She tried to change the subject or at least to leave it effectively.

Gabriel frowned in confusion, but replied to the question. "Jack is still with Azrael in this room here. We were talking ..." Gabriel now let go her left arm to show with his right hand the door, which Jack was behind.

"Azrael?" Lily asked in interest, looking inquiring at Gabriel, who had again turned to her and now had let go of her other arm.

"I arrived with him," Gabriel said and Lily nodded understandingly. "Lily, You still have not told me the reason why You had such a fear," Gabriel spoke again in a calm tone, but Lily was silent and took a few steps back from him.

"Did anyone who is in this castle threaten You?" Gabriel asked now.

"No," Lily replied honestly to him and Gabriel nodded understandingly and then concluded: "So You have a fear of something or someone who has threatened You before You come here."

Lily nodded and hoped he would not ask further questions, because she knew something inside her was going to tell him everything. And oddly enough, she had the feeling that he would listen to her and understand her. It was just weird, when she met Jack, she had immediately trusted him and he had become in a very short time a close friend and confidant. And now she was standing in front of another stranger and had the same feeling.

"Lily, whoever it was, he or she cannot do anything to You here. You are safe here. Jack has found a very good hiding place," Gabriel said sincerely and confidently.

Lily shook her head slightly and said bitterly: "You cannot know. Even a good hiding place can be found. It's just a matter of time."

"Or of fate," Gabriel added, took a deep breath and then continued, earnestly, "Lily, You are safe here. They will not find this hiding place. For why fate would have bring You here if it wouldn´t be safe? It would make no sense."

Lily gave a short laugh, then continued, "Let us leave the subject of this game. Jack and I have fled and we did not go all that far. And the attackers will persist in searching the area for us, so it's really a matter of time before they find us here." Lily paused for a moment. Gabriel looked at her thoughtfully and was about to say something about it, as Lily spoke again: "Jack and I should leave this place as fast as possible ... and I should try again to call Anna. She surely can help us if she is safe."

Gabriel knitted his brow, he looked confused and as if he didn't want to ask, but he said, "Calling?"

Lily's fear had now turned into aggrivation. She was concerned about her safety, her life and this man in front of her still clung to this stupid game. "Yes, calling," she said a little louder now, "what I've already tried before. And it was quite funny that you have speak so, as if you didn´t know not what I meant ..."

Before Lily could say another word, Gabriel interrupted her in a friendly way saying: "Lily, stop. Not a word about it anymore. I know from Jack, that You do not know the laws but You have promised Jack not to talk about Your own time. So please don't ..."

This time Lily interrupted Gabriel angrily. "I do not see the rules of the game as laws and only wish you would agree, we are in the same time. Just because you all intend to play at living in the Middle Ages, that doesn´t mean that we come from two different eras. And I really have other worries than to concern myself with these stupid rules. This is about my ..."

Lily couldn´t speak further because Gabriel had grabbed her incredibly fast with a hand on her arm and pulled her to him and covered her mouth his other hand. The shock made her freeze on the spot, as Gabriel whispered softly and clearly into her ear: "I know that You do not believe a single word of what Jack has told You, but You should believe it." She were surprised by his quick reaction, to his cold hand that was over her mouth and to what Jack had told him and why he spoke to her now in this way.

"And we will talk later about it," Gabriel added, before he again let her go and stepped back a step from her, just at the moment the castle guard came around the corner and was separated by only a few yards from the place where Lily and Gabriel were standing.

When Walter saw Gabriel, he immediately said, "Sir, I have been looking for You. It is necessary to talk about a few more details."

Lily winced a little when she heard Walter´s voice behind her. Had Gabriel reacted like that because he knew that the castle guard would appear at that very moment and he did not want him to notice their conversation? But if it was so, how did he know that he was coming then?

Lily could see that Gabriel now turned his gaze away from her and looked into Walter's direction. Seconds later, the castle guard stood next to them and welcomed Lily with excessive politeness and added: "I thought You would be asleep long ago. Is anything not to Your satisfaction?"

"No, it's all very well," she responded kindly on Walter's question, but her discomfort grew with each second that Walter was now in her vicinity. Her sense told her that he was only waiting for her to make a mistake and he could punish her for it.

"What details are involved?" Lily heard now Gabriel asking. Then said the castle guard: "Sir, maybe we should go in a suitable room and not discuss it out here." Gabriel nodded and made a move to walk, while the castle guard already was a few steps ahead. Lily spoke without thinking, wanting to make sure in which room Jack actually was in because there were several doors in the hallway which brought up the question which was which since she did not remember which door Gabriel had pointed to.

"Um ... Gabriel, could _you_ tell me again in which room Jack is?" After she had asked her question, Gabriel turned to look at her and she saw an almost apologetic and hopeful face, which made her a little suspicious.

Then she heard the castle guard, who had paused in his movement and once again turned back to her, and said in a cold, almost pleased voice: "That happened faster than I thought. But honestly, I did not expect that You would dare to to speak so informally to a person higher rank than You." 


	8. Anno Domini 1208

_Hi! I´m back again with a new chapter. Thanks for your reviews. It´s great to know what you think of my fanfic. _

_Jat, thanks so much for beta-reading it._

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54 _

**Anno Domini 1208**

Gabriel had gone outside after his conversation with the castle guard and found himself at the base of the castle wall. Thoughtfully, he looked to the hilly landscape. Truthfully, he had not planned to spend much time at this castle, because it meant more duties for him to attend to, which he had wanted to escape for a while. And he already knew that the longer he stayed here in the castle, the harder it would be to hide his true identity and what he was.

Gabriel now turned around and looked back at the castle, which rose up in front of him. This castle, which had previously consisted of wood, had always been in possession of the Order. He had tried around 100 years ago, to help the Valkyries in not giving up their property, but the church had found a way and had driven them out of the castle. The Valkyries had tried to avoid at all costs, letting their castle Everstein fall into the hands of the Church, so they had entrusted it to him.

A few years ago he had given Walter the position of the castle guard because he had thought he would preserve the memory of the Order and voluntarily care for and protect the Valkyries. He was wrong. He had believed in Walter because his wife had been a Valkyrie and now he had come to discover that Walter had only taken in Lily and Jack because of his commands and Walter's opinion of them was not positive.

Annoyed, Gabriel now had to shake his head at his foolishness. How had he been so mistaken? Walter's reactions to Lily and Jack's behavior, and the way he talked back to them, had betrayed a lot about his views. Gabriel had to shake his head again when he thought of how much power castle guards had acquired over time. He had presented himself to Walter as a simple Lord, but now he realized that Walter was indeed socially and legally under the rank of a Lord, but his power already had increased to that of a feudal lord and he used it well. Walter´s position allowed him not only to manage the castle, but it also gave him the right to hold court. And because of this right, he could punish Lily. When Gabriel had reversed Walter´s punishment for Lily, the castle guard had at first wanted to engage in a power play, but had quickly backed down and accepted Gabriel's decision.

Gabriel shook his head again. This castle guard meant trouble. And not only for Lily and Jack, but also for him and Azrael. Gabriel would love to put him out the door, but he knew he needed a good reason for it and Walter had not yet given him it. However, Gabriel was sure that Walter would sooner or later provide him with a reason, he was greedy for power and also very religious.

Now, Gabriel had to smile. Walter understood Gabriel's position and while he was aware of Gabriel's higher social status, he accepted it with limitations. Well, if Walter knew what power and influence Gabriel really had, he would not behave like this. But Gabriel wished for him to know him only as a simple noble man. And for now it should remain that way. Walter would find out soon enough, who he had picked a fight with.

When he had received the news that a Valkyrie and her guardian had for the first time in decades come to this castle, he simply had to meet them. And after the meeting he really intended to go right back. He had planned to suggest that they only take a break of their journey here and to continue on their way after a few days. However, he did not expect to learn that they were fate travelers. That changed things. He couldn´t leave them alone to their fate - not with this castle guard. And his conversations with Jack had only encouraged him to stay with them. Of course, Jack had revealed almost nothing about their time, but there had been a few things that could inevitably raise questions. Why had Lily known nothing of her origin and the Order until about two days ago?

But if he were honest with himself, he knew that his decision to stay with them were not just the reasons already mentioned. No, the only reason was Lily. Gabriel knew that most vampires and Valkyries agreed to the alliance without really having destiny on their side. It was more like a strategic alliance, which he had also had in his long life and had encountered a few times. Previously, he had met only one Valkyrie, that he had immediately known that fate had brought them together for that reason. And that alliance had been substantially different from the others. At that time he had immediately had the feeling when he met her that he could trust her completely and that he had known her a long time. And now it was happening again. Fate wanted, that they should agree to the alliance Ehwaz.

Gabriel could understand why Lily didn´t believe a single word that Jack said. She had experienced a lot in a very short time and the fact was that she naturally now struggled against the truth, but it also made it very dangerous for her. Especially the fact that she refused to accept that she was in the past. It was not for nothing that laws existed that governed exactly how all fate travelers should behave. And as far as Gabriel could tell, she had twice breached those rules. The most important thing, Gabriel knew for sure, was that Lily should realize that she really was, as she called it, in the Middle Ages and she should no longer regarded it as a game. Although there was no alliance yet, he felt already responsible for Lily's safety. And this fact confirmed by fate and he was sure that they would sooner or later enter into the alliance.

Gabriel walked through a door, behind which there was a staircase that led him into the main building. When he was at the entrance to the room to which he had sent Lily, after meeting with the castle guard, he quietly opened the door. Azrael who sat on a chair absorbed in a book, looked up briefly when Gabriel entered the room. Jack was sitting asleep and his head was slightly fallen to one side, and Lily was sleeping on a broad bench against the wall, which was covered with pillows. Someone had covered her with a coat. Shortly before the bench Gabriel stopped reluctantly. He was actually come here to talk to Lily again. But she looked so peaceful asleep, that he thought briefly about whether he should let her continuing to sleep.

After a moment he sat down in front of Lily. She was lying on her side and her face was turned toward the room. He raised a hand to a dark blonde streak, which had fallen into her face to brush it back. He did not know why he had done that. Still wondering about himself, he shook Lily with one hand gently on the shoulder and said kindly to her: "Lily, wake up!"

Lily stirred slowly and sleepily opened her eyes. Earlier, Gabriel had not paid attention, but now that he was so close to her and looked into her sleepy and slightly confused face, he noticed her eye color. It was green. Gabriel could not help but smile while he looked directly into Lily's eyes and she looked back at him with a smile on her lips also. He simply could not tear his gaze away from her eyes.

Suddenly there was a bang as Azrael had slammed his book loudly on the table. Gabriel was aware that he had completely forgotten the environment around him. How could it happen? He had not thought about the fact that there were two other people in this room and Azrael had reminded him of this in his own way.

Azrael's action had also brought Jack out of sleep, who was jumped up startled from his chair and looked around in confusion in all directions. Jack quickly gained control again and took a deep breath before he sat down once more.

Lily had sat up and Gabriel stood beside her before he slowly walked to another chair at the table and said to Lily in the mean time, "Lily, You should join us around the table and then we should talk."

Lily obeyed Gabriel's statement and sat down next to Jack. The two sat across from Gabriel and Azrael was at the head of the table.

Without further ado Gabriel began seriously: "Lily, it's very important that You don´t speak to anyone else about where You come from and what Your time looks like. And You need to believe us that You are – how You have called it - oh yes ... in the Middle Ages. And to put it correctly you are in the year 1208. And it is NOT a game!"

Gabriel could see from Lily's reaction, as she shook her head blankly that she did not believe a word. But she remained silent and she said nothing.  
Jack, however, replied to Lily's behavior: "Lily, I know you think that time travel is impossible. And most of the time you're right. It is only possible in certain cases. Only if fate allows it. Destiny is a very strong power, which everyone and everything is subordinate. You cannot escape your fate. And it has now brought us here." Jack paused to see how Lily would react. She looked at him thoughtfully.

And finally she said firmly, "Oh yeah? Fate would have it? You know Jack, I believe that fate has absolutely nothing to do with it. We fled and then ended up in a castle that was built probably by a rich man, because in this country we do not see many medieval castles. And the people here think, they are recreating the Middle Ages. Please, if they are having fun, let them do it. But without me."

Lily paused briefly to take a deep breath. "Jack, we talked about the fact that we would decide together whether we stay here or not. And I've made my decision. I'm not staying here anymore. If you really want to stay here, you may do so."

Gabriel could see how desperate and simply helpless Jack looked at Lily. He just did not know how to make her understand it and Gabriel knew that giving her only speeches, would not change her opinion. She needed more proof. But how could they prove it to her, when there was proof already around her and she shut her eyes to it. However, she only knew about this place and the few people she had seen here. She was convinced that the few people here just putting on a show for her. Gabriel had an idea.

Slowly he got up, went to Lily, pulled her cautiously up with one arm, so she stood next to him and then he grabbed her quickly, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. Gabriel could hear her utter a little cry of fright and then began to defend herself by struggling with her legs and hitting her arms against his back. "Put me back down immediately," Lily ordered him.

Jack jumped up and was shouting something excitedly, when Gabriel, ignoring Lily completely now said: "Jack, I think Lily needs some proof. I'll give it to her. I will bring her back healthy, alert and unharmed. I promise!" Jack nodded in agreement.

Gabriel then turned to his friend and protégé: "Azrael, could You saddle my horse, please?" And Gabriel then spoke so Jack and Lily could not hear. "Jack knows what we are. Lily does not. And it should first stay that way. I think it's better for Lily if she learns everything later."

Azrael nodded in understanding and made his way to the stable. Gabriel then said to Lily: "You should stop fighting. You will hurt only yourself!"

"Really?" Lily countered angrily, "What are you thinking? No civilized human being behaves this way. Put me back down immediately!"

Gabriel could not resist a smile and in his thoughts, he answered her: _"I'm not a human!" _and out loud he said to her: "Lily, we'll take a little trip. And it looks like, You will probably not accompany me voluntary, so You will stay where You are for now."

Then he went with Lily on his shoulder to the courtyard. Once there, Azrael was waiting for them, holding Gabriel´s black stallion by the reins. The horse tried to escape Azrael´s strong grip, but when the stallion saw Gabriel, he became calmer. Gabriel went up to the horse and calmed him by using his free hand to stroke the horse's head and spoke in whispers to the horse. Lily had now ceased to struggle, so Gabriel set her back down. When Lily was free again, she took a few steps away from Gabriel and she glared at him angrily. Gabriel had expected that she would insult him, but she did not. No, she turned and ran back towards the entrance. He should have guessed she would do that.

"She is running away from You, Gabriel," Azrael said with a smile and then added, "How much of an advantage will You give her?"

Gabriel didn´t answer Azrael, but ran after Lily in a split second. Just before Lily had reached the entrance, he caught her, by putting his arm around her waist and pulling her to him.

"Let me go!" Lily screamed at him. "I don´t want to take a trip with you. And you cannot force me!"

"Lily," Gabriel said seriously but slightly amused, "You have the choice, either you come with me voluntarily or ... I will force you. Believe me, I can!"

"Oh yeah? We will see about that," Lily replied defiantly, who again struggled against Gabriel's grip with both hands, trying to break his grip. It did not hurt her, but she could not move Gabriel's arm an inch.

Gabriel shook his head and lifted her up a bit so he could walk back.

"If you don´t put me down this instant," Lily said angrily and threatened, "then I'll hurt you."

She was really stubborn and obstinate, and it would not be a pleasant ride into the city and in fact he had planned to arrive there before sunrise. Gabriel took a deep breath. "Lily, do what you want, but I will not let you go."

Gabriel could hear Lily take a deep breath and could feel her become angrier, and then Gabriel felt Lily ram her elbow into his side with all her strength. Gabriel had been expected such an action and just went on as if nothing had happened. For the second time they arrived by the horse, Gabriel set her down again, but without letting her go he turned her so he could look her in the face. On her face was still a lot of rage, but also a bit of skepticism.

Then he put both hands on her hips, lifted her and placed her on his horse. Lily sat in front of the saddle, and her legs both on the same side. Giving Lily no chance to slide down from his horse, Gabriel got as quickly as humanly possible into the saddle, took the reins and again put his arm around her waist.

Lily took a deep breath and seemed resigned to her fate, at least for now, because she had no way to escape Gabriel, she then asked, "Where are we going on this trip?"

"To the city," Gabriel answered her honestly. "I think that You will believe us then." After he had spoken these last words, Gabriel lightly touched his heels into the flanks of the stallion and the horse galloped through the large gate.


	9. The medieval city

_Hi! I´m back with a new chapter. Thanks for your reviews. Let me know what you think of this chapter._

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thanks for beta-reading. You´re such a huge help.)_

**The medieval city**

The sun rose slowly, as Lily and Gabriel approached the city. The city was surrounded by a high stone wall, which permitted only the roofs of houses and a church tower to be seen. The sight that was afforded to Lily, caught her breath. It was one thing to reproduce a whole castle, but to build a whole city? That could simply not be possible.

When they reached the gate of the town and they had passed through the gate, Lily did not know what she should say or think. Along the street, if you could call it street which they rode along on, Lily could see the houses of stone and wood, were built close together. At the entrance of the houses hung signs out of wood on which were symbols. If the road was paved, you could not recognize it. Lily did not want to think what it might be because of the penetrating stench which she had smelled since they entered the city, was unbearable. Instinctively, she held a hand over her mouth and nose, mainly not to have to smell the stench any longer and also to suppress her nausea.

The new day had just begun and there were not many people about. From one of the houses which they passed, came out a man, his clothes looked old and worn, but were dirty, too. And not only his clothes needed a wash but the man looked as if he had not washed for weeks. His hair stuck in stringy strands on his head and his face and his hands were stained with dirt. Lily turned her gaze from the man and looked straight ahead. Then she saw a woman not far was away open a window of the first floor of a house and poured the contents of a pot out on the street. Lily had to avert her eyes in disgust.

When they turned a corner, Lily looked right at a garbage heap, which consisted of food scraps and other things about which she didn´t want to think about. She was never really squeamish, was not afraid of spiders or mice, but to see how rats infested this mess led her to shudder in disgust. What was the old saying? If you see one rat, there's more. There had to be many rats, because she didn´t only see only one rat.

A little further on, leaning against a wall, sat an old man dressed only in rags, and his eyes were bandaged with a torn piece of cloth. Beside him was a stick, in one hand he held a small wooden bowl, which he held up and kept saying: "Alms, alms for a blind old man." A woman emerged from the house with a broom in her hand and angrily chased the old man who now stumbled along the road, disoriented. Lily's heart constricted, when she saw it. She could not help herself, she had to help this old man. Maybe she could bring him to a homeless shelter or ... yes, where? Was there something like that in the Middle Ages? All of a sudden she realized that she really was in the Middle Ages. What she had seen here so far, could not be play acting ... No one would play something like this voluntarily ...

But now she could not pause to think about it, she had to help this man. Determinedly she said to Gabriel: "Stop!" Gabriel reacted to her request and stopped the black horse. He was about to ask why, when Lily removed his hand from her waist and slipped down from the back of the horse.

Lily had not thought about what was under the hooves of the horse and when she reached the ground with her feet, she quickly repressed the thought and tried to avoid looking down. She lifted up her dress a little, so it did not come in contact with the stinking, muddy substance. Then she walked quickly behind the beggar. She could feel Gabriel watching her back and then he came after her still on his horse.  
It did not take long and Lily reached the old man. She raised her arm and touched him on the shoulder while she said to him: "Can I help You? Is there a place where I can take You?"

The beggar turned to her and smiled at Lily. "Only a small charity would be enough."

Now, Lily looked at Gabriel, who was still sitting on his horse and asked, "Is there such a thing as ...", Lily had to pause to find a suitable word, "like a poor house or something similar?"

Gabriel looked at her pondering her question and then answered: "Yes, but I think that this man doesn't want to go there, otherwise he would all ready be there. We should grant him his request."

Gabriel now reached for the side of his belt and pulled out a small leather bag, opened it, reached in and took out some coins. He came closer with his horse and threw the coins into the wooden bowl of the beggar. Then the beggar thanked them and walked clumsily away.

"We can´t let him go. He needs help," Lily said to Gabriel begging for help now.

"Lily, we cannot help him."

"But ...", Lily did not know what else to say. They were in the Middle Ages and this time was not famous for helpfulness and humanity.

"Do You wish to stand in the garbage longer or get back on the horse?" Gabriel then asked with raised eyebrows. Lily looked down at herself and a feeling of disgust spread now from within her and she didn´t wanted to move an inch more. She quickly replied: "On the horse!"

Gabriel turned the horse so that she had her back to the side of the horse, leaned down a bit, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back up on the back of the horse. Lily let out a relieved breath, but held her feet out, away from her. She could see that her dress had gotten nothing on it but her shoes were covered with the mud.

"Are all roads in this city so dirty," Lily now had to ask.

"No, mainly the remote, narrow, dark alleys look like this. There are laws that forbid the people to throw all the garbage on the street, but many do not obey them," Gabriel told her.

Gabriel gave his steed a new command to set it in motion. It was not long and they reached a paved road, but on it also was a bit like straw or horse manure, but it the smell was not so intense anymore. Then Gabriel stopped in front of a large barn, let Lily down and climbed down from the horse himself. In front of the barn was a water trough and a wooden bucket. Gabriel went up to it, took the bucket, filled it with water, and turned back to Lily.

"Lift Your dress up a bit," Gabriel commanded encouragingly.

Lily did not understand what he intended. "Why?"

Gabriel smiled at her now and then replied: "Lily, Your shoes stink, and if You want to remain any longer in my presence, the stench must be washed away."

Lily smiled back in understanding and lifted her dress a little up. Gabriel then tipped the water over Lily's shoes. The water was ice cold and Lily winced slightly when she felt the cold hit her feet. She looked down and saw that the water had washed away the mud.

Meanwhile, more people were on the roads and Lily was aware from the sight that all this could not be play acting. It was just too realistic.

Gabriel had replaced the bucket, then said to Lily. "You stay here. I'll have a look and see if I can find the smith." And then Gabriel disappeared quickly. Lily was standing a few meters away from his horse and looked at it curiously. It was a beautiful, noble, black stallion and his black mane glistened in the sunlight. Lily noticed that the horse looked at her also, if the horse could understood her. Lily looked around again. She could see that exactly opposite of her was a road leading to a large square and at the end of this square rose a large church built of stone. The church building was impressive, as Lily thought how it had been built without the help of machines.

Then she saw from the corner of her eye, that Gabriel's black horse was running past her. She quickly turned her head and saw a strange man was sitting on the horse. What should she do now? Someone had just stolen Gabriel's horse as it stood next to her! Taken by surprise, she shouted: "Stop! This is theft," and began to run after them just as someone grabbed her arm. She turned around in order to ascertain who held her. It was Gabriel.

Now she tried to find an explanation, for how could it have happened that his horse was stolen in front of her eyes. "Well ... I looked away briefly ... and then it was already happening."

But Gabriel smiled at her and said calmly: "It will not be long and Samru will be here again."

Lily looked at him incredulously. "But ...", she stopped herself because she could hear the hoof beats of a galloping horse behind her now and saw that Gabriel was looking pleased beyond her. She turned around. There came Gabriel's horse running towards them and he stopped before Gabriel, who had walked a pace towards his horse. He raised his hand and stroked the horse's forehead and said something to it which she could not understand, then he took the reins and led the horse into the barn. Lily had not noticed before that a man who was wearing over his clothes an apron of leather, standing at the entrance of the barn.

It did not take long and Gabriel was again beside the startled Lily. She didn´t notice that Gabriel had raised his hand and held it protectively in front of his face. She still thought of the horse.

"Lily, You're probably hungry," Gabriel began, "we should probably go to a tavern, so You may eat something."

Lily nodded in agreement because she was really hungry. The tavern was not far away. It was dark and stuffy in the room. The restaurant owner came right up to the two, while they had been looking for a place to sit and asked them what they wanted. Before Lily could say anything at all, Gabriel had ordered for them. Lily was surprised that he had only ordered wine for himself, but she thought nothing further of it because there was much more that she had to process first.

Then suddenly she remembered that she had no money and what she had was in her bag, which was in the room back at the castle. However, there were no coins from the Middle Ages, but dollars and she was sure that it would be worth nothing here.

"Um ... Gabriel, ... I have no money ... well ... I have money ... just not here and I think that it ... would not be accepted ..." Lily stuttered embarrassed. She has always been proud of her independence. During her school years she had always done casual work, to earn her own money. "I'll pay you back in any case," Lily was now added determinedly.

Gabriel looked at her in confusion and then said: "You don´t need money. I invited You. After all, You had no opportunity to ask Jack to give You money."

Lily's head spun crazily. The realization that she was really in the Middle Ages, had scared her and the fact that she had made a journey through time and how it had even worked at all, it now grabbed her attention. Added to this was also the fact that she did not really know much about the Dark Ages.

Normally she would have been incredibly angry that someone just ordered something for her, but it had not bothered her now because she would not have known what she should order. After all what did the people eat in the Middle Ages?  
She was so preoccupied with herself that she hadn´t listened to Gabriel carefully. She knew that he had said he had invited her and then said with a smile: "Thank you."

But in her subconscious mind was something else was stirring. He had also mentioned Jack and then she became aware of he had said. He had said something about asking Jack for money?

She could not help but ask, "Why should I ask Jack for money?"

Gabriel looked back at her confused again. "He is Your guardian, isn´t he? So, he is the person who supplies You with everything."

Lily wanted to say something, but then decided against it. Jack and Gabriel had told her no, they had even warned her that she should not say anything about their time and this room was filled with strangers. And Gabriel did not know their time, either.

Gabriel was now looking at her inquiringly, because he could be read by the look on her face that she wanted to still say something.

"Jack said something like that," she murmured.

Then the landlord came with a wooden plate and two cups to them. He put the plate, on which lay bread and cheese, in front of Lily. A cup he positioned in front of Gabriel and the other next to her plate. Gabriel said something to the host, which was not understood by Lily, because she took her cup into her hand and sniffed the beverage. It contained wine. Lily had never drunk alcohol in the morning and did not really want to start it now. But apparently here wine was drunk all day long.

"Is something wrong?" Gabriel now wanted to know.

"No," said Lily, "everything is okay. Um ... I've never ever drunk wine for breakfast."

Gabriel smiled at her and then said: "I should have asked You. If You would rather drink water ..." Lily interrupted Gabriel, saying to him. "No, it´s okay."

Lily started to eat some of what was on her plate. It was strange that she ate alone, while Gabriel watched her. Politely she offered: "Would You really have nothing to eat? You may have some of my meal. I´ll not eat all. It´s just too much."

Gabriel seemed to appreciate her politeness, but declined nonetheless. After a while Lily coughed slightly and said sincerely: "Well,... I believe You and Jack."

Gabriel nodded, then seemed relieved and pleased. "Good!"

"And I want to apologize to You, if I have offended You somehow."

"You have not done so," Gabriel said honestly.

"Are you sure? I just thought because of how Walter reacted when I addressed You by your given name and to be honest, I do not know when and what I should say..."

Gabriel nodded understandingly and said then: "When strangers meet, they use the formal address You, because you do not know what rank the other has, although that is not quite true because you can usually tell from the clothes the rank of the other. Only in the high ranks, it is not immediately noticeable. If you belong to the same rank and know each other and are friends, you may say "you" to him. A person always uses the address "You" for higher standing persons. Normally, the superiors in rank uses the first name of the lower standing people, but within the nobility, it is handled in a different way."

Lily looked at Gabriel now: "So I have offended You because if I have understood this correctly, You are a feudal lord and You´re noble, right?"

"Yes, but ..."

Lily interrupted Gabriel. "Well, I am not noble, and so I would not have been allowed to call You by your first name. I am sorry!"

Gabriel smiled and said, "You are a Valkyrie, and thus You are at least in my eyes at the same rank as a feudal lord. So, you have not offended me."

Lily nodded in relief. And Gabriel went on: "If you wish it, we can say "you" to each other when we´re alone, like now, or with Jack and Azrael. We should not do it, if Walter can hear us."

Lily grinned pleased and said: "Sure!"

Shortly after they left the tavern and Lily looked at the sky. Earlier, it looked as if it would still be a beautiful, sunny day, but now there were dark clouds in the sky, which had moved in front of the sun. Lily took a deep breath before both went down the road. Amazingly, she had quickly accepted that she was now in the Middle Ages. She had to make the best of it. Lily saw again the guild emblems and curious as she was, she then asked Gabriel what was hidden behind the individual symbols or the images that were shown on the wooden boards. Some were coats of arms, she realized herself, what those should be, but in others she was at a loss. Lily knew that the majority of the population in the Middle Ages could not read and write, so it seemed to her logical that the baker or the smith could be seen through pictures. Gabriel replied to all of her questions patiently. She could see he had a question on the lips, but didn´t ask. So she walked a few steps faster and then stopped in front of him.

"What? What do you want to know? "Lily then asked her question.

"What makes you thinking that I wanted to ask you something?" Gabriel replied suspiciously.

"Well, you had such a questioning expression on your face. Therefore, I thought you might want to ask me a question."

Gabriel shook his head, smiling. "Say it," Lily asked him now, because she was not convinced by the shaking of his head.

"I have just wondered that you have asked me about almost every guild emblem, what it means and ... it was clear that you do not know them ..." Gabriel paused.

"And?" Lily pounced immediately.

"Lily, I´m not allowed to ask you that. It would violate the rules." Lily could see that Gabriel was still curious. Who would not be? Who would not want to know what the future looked like.

"You know," Lily began, "In my country we do not use these emblems. We have other signs that tell us what it is. And I'm sure you know these symbols." Lily paused, waiting for Gabriel's reaction.

Gabriel looked at Lily closely, and saw she was watching him and smiling expectantly. "So if I already know these symbols, it would not break the rules ..." he replied, carefully but also curiously.

"They´re Latin letters," Lily said briefly.

"You can read?" The words exploded accidentally out of Gabriel in surprise.

Lily grinned at him then in a teasing manner she replied: "And You cannot?" She was sure he could.

Gabriel looked puzzled again and replied, "Of course, I can read!"

"I would have expected nothing else," Lily said in a conciliatory tone.

Gabriel shook his head in wonder again. "Maybe we should now return to the castle. Jack is probably already worried." Lily nodded in agreement.

They began to return to the barn of the blacksmith to get Gabriel´s horse, but had taken a different route. In front of a large building Gabriel came to a stand still.  
"And what is going on in this building?" Lily asked curious again.

"It´s a bath house," Gabriel said shortly. Lily was now really surprised she had not expected that there would be a bath house. Certainly not after seeing how dirty and unsanitary many people were and also from what she knew of the Middle Ages.

Lily noticed that Gabriel was thinking about something and pushed the questions about the bathhouse aside and waited for that Gabriel to say something, because he gave the impression that he wanted to tell her something, but was looking for the right words. Finally he said: "I need to do something here before we ride back again. I want you to wait for me right here."

"Can´t I come with you?" Lily was really excited to see what the bath house looked like from the inside.

"No, you stay here," Gabriel said shortly to her not allowing or enduring opposition, and entered the building.

A bit confused Lily stood in front of the house and looked at the people who walked past her. She discovered that people here did not frantically make their way to their destination as they used to in her time, but moved as if they had all the time in the world. Her eyes wandered around now and she looked at the different homes. Then she noticed that only a few houses further on was the barn, where they had left the horse.

Weighing her options she looked first to the front door of the bath house and then to the barn. Instead of standing stupidly around the area, she could go and fetch Gabriel's horse. But Gabriel's instructions had sounded more like a command and she knew that he would certainly not be happy when she ignored his request. But on the other hand, she also felt it was a strange request to make her wait directly in front of the entrance for him. And also they could save time if she went and got the black horse now.

So she went determinedly across the road in the direction of the smithy. It didn´t take long and she reached her destination, she entered the barn and called out, "Is anybody here?"

Immediately she got a reply and the man from before came through a small door on the side of the barn. Most likely the forge was in the back of the barn, though it was probably the other way around since she had come through the back door to the forge. The man looked at her briefly and then said, "God be with You madam! You were here before with the Count. Surely You have come to get the black horse."

Lily smiled at him and said nodding. "Yes, I want him."

Looking around the blacksmith continued: "Where is the Count of Everstein?"

"He is busy with something and I have come to get the horse," Lily answered him in a friendly and confident manner and tried to hide the fact that she was not familiar with Gabriel´s title. But at the same time she also wondered why he didn´t tell her his title. And a Count was definitely higher in rank than a feudal lord. Lily was sure.

The smith then gave her a wide eyed and stunned look. "You want to take the horse? You must be joking!"

"Why not?" Lily asked hesitantly. Was it not common for women to do such a thing? No, she could not imagine that. The next thought that occurred to her was payment. Of course you had to pay for the accommodation of horses and she had no money. She had not thought of it, but why should the smith know that she had no money with her?

"Well," began the smith, "this stallion is not a very tame horse. He does not let everyone come very close to him and only its owner can ride him. The horse is a real devil!"

"Well, I think there will be no problem, I do not want to ride the horse. I will only be bringing the horse to the Count," Lily said convincingly, but was not completely sure about it herself.

The blacksmith looked back at her doubtfully, but then showed her the way to the black stallion. He stopped a few meters in front of the stallion, which was still saddled. "He is over there."

Lily thanked him and was about to go to the stallion when she paused to tell him: "I do not know if the Count has already paid for the accommodation of the horse?"

The man replied in complete surprise: "Pay? Why should the Count pay? Everything You see here belongs to him."

"Of course," Lily replied in surprise, feeling embarrassed. To cover her insecurities, she walked slowly toward the stallion. What did she do now? She had as a child and teenager been a fan of horses and was able to ride, but she also knew that you should stay away from horses that had such a nervous disposition, especially if they were stallions. It could be dangerous.

She summoned all her courage and said quietly to the horse: "Take it easy. I will not do anything to you. I will only take you to Gabriel." When Lily was only one meter away from the horse, the stallion began to wheeze and pawed the air with his front feet as far as the rope allowed, from where he was tied.

Lily could hear the blacksmith start to say something, but then let it go. Slowly she put one foot in front of the other and gently lifted her hand as she spoke more calmly to the horse. "Samru, calm. I will not harm you."

Apparently it worked, because the stallion was standing still now, but he still panted furiously. When she had reached him, she gently stroked his forehead and did not stop talking to him calmly and persuasively. Gradually Samru calmed some more and seemed like any other saddle-horse. Lily knew she shouldn´t make any frantic movements, so she slowly took the rope and untied it. Then she took the reins and led him out of his box.

The smith stood with his mouth open and watched speechlessly, when Lily led Samru from the barn. Lily felt incredibly proud of herself that she had managed it. She did not have much time to be pleased about it because a few meters away from the barn, Gabriel suddenly stood in front of her, very angry, but also very surprised at the same time.

"Didn´t I tell you that you should wait over there for me?" 


	10. Misunderstanding

_Hi! I´m back with a new chapter. It´s short but I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. I wish you all a merry Christmas!_

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54 (Thanks Jat)_

_Betsal: Thanks for your review. Yes, Lily is a strong woman but also weak._

**  
Misunderstanding**

During the entire ride back to the castle Gabriel had not spoken a word to Lily. What was she thinking when she disregarded his orders? And not only that, she had also put herself in danger. He did not understand why Samru had peacefully let her lead him, but that did not matter now. In fact Lily had ignored his instructions completely. He could not argue with her in the city, but he would rebuke her in the castle in private.

Now as they were both in a room of the castle and Gabriel looked angrily at Lily. However, her behavior caused him to pause and think. She had neither apologized nor given him an explanation. She was silent, and Gabriel could see from her expression that she did not know what she had done wrong. He could feel her insecurity, but also some slight anger. Apparently she thought it would be better to say nothing first.

"I'm waiting for an explanation, why did you ignore my command?" Gabriel said, speaking quietly, but his voice held authority and power.

However, Lily was less than impressed, Gabriel could clearly determine. "Your command? To me, it sounded more like a request. And just so you know, I don´t let anyone order me around for anything!"

Gabriel could not believe his ears. Did she actually just said that she would not allow him to give her any commands?

"What?" He said in confusion.

"You heard me right," Lily said loudly.  
Gabriel could not believe it. She was not only stubborn and obstinate, no, she was also defiant. And what had caused her to talk so disrespectfully to him in the first place? Gabriel took a deep breath to absorb his anger.

"Lily," Gabriel said in a threatening voice, "you can not just ignore my commands. Apparently you are not aware of with whom you are talking to."

Lily laughed briefly at him, then to threw the following words back at him. "Oh, I know who you are. A feudal lord, and also the Count of Everstein. Just because you have a title of nobility, it does not give you the right to order me around as if I am not important."

"However, I do have the right, Lily," Gabriel said angrily and coldly.

Lily glared at him with angry eyes. "No, you do not! No one has that right!"

In indignation Gabriel took a deep breath before he said to her with a scary threatening voice: "Lily, you have to follow my orders, whether you like it or not! There are no arguments! I may have to put you over my knee, so that you understand that."

Gabriel walked to Lily determinedly. To Gabriel's surprise Lily showed no trace of fear, on the contrary, she was incensed with her head held high and she raised her index finger threateningly in Gabriel's direction and said indignantly: "Don't you dare!"

Irritated, he stopped briefly in front of her. Gabriel did not understand the world anymore. Normally, his tone had always had the effect to intimidate his opponent, at the very least, but it seemed to have no effect on Lily. Just as he wanted to put his threat into action, Jack stormed into the room followed by Azrael.

Jack pushed his way between Gabriel and Lily, and eased her gently back a bit, so now there was more distance between them. Azrael was further away, watching the tense situation and said to Gabriel in a frequency that was not clear to humans, "Gabriel, what happened? Your dispute could be heard almost all over the castle." Gabriel gave Azrael no answer. His gaze was still on Jack and Lily.

Jack had placed himself protectively in front of Lily. His profession was to be Lily's guardian angel although while she had made a mistake and Jack would not be able to protect her against it.

Gabriel now instructed Jack: "Jack, get out of the way. If you do not, I will force you."

Jack said breathlessly almost pleading, "This is only a misunderstanding, Gabriel."

But he remained exactly where he was. Gabriel had expected anything else. A guardian would never give up his charge that fast. But he had to warn Jack. And if Gabriel was honest with himself, he did not want to force Jack. Jack was a good guy who didn´t have it easy with his Valkyrie. And actually he did not want to discipline Lily, but such behavior, he could not just ignore.

"A misunderstanding?" Gabriel repeated questioningly and then declared unequivocally: "It's not, Jack. She ignored my command and then has even the audacity to say to me, she would not recognize my noble rank." Jack now looked at Gabriel with understanding.

"Let me talk to her and explain it to her," Jack begged. Whereupon Gabriel nodded in agreement. If she apologized to him, he would accept it. Gabriel was surprised again that he felt so forgiving. What was going on with him? Lily had been trying all along to free herself from Jack's confining grip, but without success.

Gabriel watched now, as Jack turned around slowly and held Lily by her upper arms. Jack took a deep breath before he began to talk with Lily.

"Lily, remember," Jack said with a calm and slightly deliberate voice, "you were to yell at me if you're angry." Gabriel furrowed his brow quizzically. Jack breathed deeply again and Gabriel could feel that Jack was tense now.

"Lily, do you believe that we are in the Middle Ages?" Jack asked gently. Lily nodded and Jack´s tension subsided. And Gabriel again realized that she was a fate traveler. He had forgotten that fact. His anger had made him forget. But in the end it did not alter the fact that she had behaved wrongly. He did not know if ever fate travelers had been questioned on their social order.

"Lily, you know I respect you and your rights. I not only respect them, but I hold exactly the same opinion of things," Jack began and Gabriel did not need another way to ask what Jack wanted to say. These words said it all, and there was definitely more behind them, of that he was sure.

"I can understand your anger, Lily. I also find it difficult to adapt myself. But ..." Jack paused. He appeared to search for the right words. "... Lily, please recall what you know about this time in history. Think about how people lived and what they thought. Which views and ideas they had. And the consequences if you opposed the rules and laws. Lily, we are in the Middle Ages and we have to adapt, whether we like it or not."

Gabriel could feel how Lily's anger slowly subsided. She seemed to understand Jack's words and to consider them carefully. However, now questions were buzzing around in Gabriel's head. What was the time which the two had come from? Inevitably, Gabriel thought that she perhaps had not been disrespectful, but just had reacted as she would have behaved in her time. Jack had not reproached or rebuked her for disregarding his orders.

Jack let go Lily now, and took a step aside. Lily took a deep breath and he could feel that it was anything but easy for her to look at him and talk to him. As she it was she jumped at her own shadow.

"Gabriel," a deep breath again, "I want to ... apologize. Well, ... I really thought that it was a request ... and I thought if I got Samru in the meantime, we could save time." Lily looked at him expectantly and then he nodded in understanding. Lily took a deep breath calmly, and then continued. "I would also like to apologize for my behavior and that I have offended you."

She had not lied. Her apology was sincere and honest, but Gabriel could feel that it wasn´t easy for her, as if she had just done something that she would not do normally.

Gabriel also took a deep breath and nodded accepting her apology and then wanted to say something to Lily, when the door was flung open, and Walter entered the room. He had such a strange grin on his face that Gabriel could not help but to turn to the castle guard and speak to him severely with raised eyebrows, "Walter, since when do you spontaneously burst into a room without knocking? Have You lost Your manners?"

"Excuse me Sir, but I have heard of Your dispute and because Lilian doesn´t know our way of life, I thought I should intervene and instruct her on our morals."

Gabriel looked at Walter carefully. His words seemed to be spoken with understanding and even helpful at first, but they were not. His whole body posture and the joy that resonated in his words meant something else. He saw a chance to punish Lily and Gabriel wouldn´t allow it to happen in any case. Gabriel accepted Lily's apology. It was up to him and no one else to punish her and if it was necessary it would not be Walter´s task, but his! She had explained her actions, and he also knew that her behaviour had everything to do with the time she came from.

On one point, however, Walter was right, Lily and Jack did not know this time not very well. And it looked like, they would make mistakes over and over again through the lack of knowledge of how their behavior put them in dangerous situations. And Walter seemed to just be waiting for it. Gabriel had to do something to prevent it from happening. He would teach and explain to Lily and Jack the habits, customs and laws of this time.

Gabriel put a smile on his lips and said with false friendliness, "Walter, frankly, I don´t need to tell You, but because You´re apparently so concerned about Lily's well-being, I'll make an exception. There was no dispute. It was simply a misunderstanding that we have now done away with." 


	11. Warning

_Happy New Year! Thanks for your reviews Betsal and Jat. I´m happy to hear from you what you are thinking._

_Betsal: Yes, Walter waits for punishing her. Let us hope that Lily can control her temperament…_

_Jat: Well, I could not let it happen that Gabriel really has to punish her…_

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54 _

_Enjoy reading! Let me know what you think of this chapter._

**Warning**

It was a hot summer day, when Lily had left the castle, which was located on a hill, to take a walk. She strolled on the bank of a broad river that meandered through the landscape next to the castle. While, she wandered around in the heat, she really wished, she could wear a breezy summer dress. And in addition, she wanted to have running water that came from a tap and that you did not need to heat for hours until you could take a bath. The 21th century was truly a paradise! By Lily's standards she really only washed herself rarely in the wooden bath tub, but for Agatha it bordered on being an excessive washing compulsion. Lily could understand Agatha's feelings, because it always meant a huge effort for the servant and she was not the only one who wanted to bathe. So necessity became the mother of invention and every day, Lily took a bucket of water to just wash herself in her room.

Lily stopped now, gazing at the water of the river. She would like to jump into the cool waters of the Weser, but it was not Lady-like. Actually, she did not care whether it is proper or not, but there were just too many people who could have seen her here. She took an eager breath and went a step further.

It had now been a few weeks that had passed, since Jack and she were stranded here. She still found it hard for her to accept her fate, that she was stuck in the Middle Ages. Jack did not know exactly how they would return to their time. He just said, if fate would have it, it would bring them back again. Lily asked herself again and again, why did fate pick the Middle Ages?

On the day when she had accepted the fact she was really here, more people had come to the castle. They were followers of Gabriel, most of them were women. It had surprised her that there were more women than men, but ultimately it did not matter for Lily had little contact with them. She suspected that it was because they were housed in another wing of the castle and they chose to keep more to themselves. It was okay for her because it was still hard to act like a woman who was from this time and the less contact she had with other people, the better.

The next day Jack and she had gone back into town to buy clothes and other things. Well, the clothes had to be sewn for them and only days later the clothing was brought to the castle. Jack had gold coins that everyone accepted as payment. Who would take any gold?

Every day, late in the evening she was taught by Gabriel about life in the Middle Ages. On the one hand, she hated it, because there were so many things which she had to learn and they simply did not agree with her views and values, but on the other hand, she enjoyed the time as well because she spent it with Gabriel. When she thought about it, she had to shake her head. She had never really had problems getting to know people and making friends. But to develop a true friendship, it took time; you simply had to really know each other ... And now she had won in a very short time, three friends: Jack, Azrael and Gabriel. She liked spending her time with them.

Lily had made it a habit to walk every day for a few hours in the vicinity of the castle, to think in peace about things or just to escape the reality.

Finally, she left the river and walked toward a grove of trees where there was a small lake. It was not far away from the castle. She loved this place. On the shore of the lake was a large stone on which she often sat and watched the area, while thinking about this and that. Today, however, she had no desire to sit here, the cool water would just bring her to silly ideas and she would probably still behave unseemly, so she walked past the woods. It was not long before she reached a small meadow, on which stood few trees. On a small hill stood a hazelnut tree. Lily hadn´t noticed it when she had not seen that Catharina sat leaning against the tree and wept.

Lily slowly approached and then saw that next to the tree was a grave. Probably Catharina's mother was buried here. Lily sat next to Catharina in the grass. The young girl looked at Lily with tears in her eyes and said, "My mom always called me a good angel." Lily smiled at Catharina. She looked really like a little angel with her blond, curly hair.

"Angels are a good thing, right?" She asked now.

"Of course, Catharina," Lily confirmed her.

"My father thinks that I have something evil inside me," Catharina said with a sob. Lily could not believe what she was hearing. Oh, she knew how Walter was, but to let his own daughter believe such a thing. That was just too much.

"No, Catharina. You have nothing evil inside you."

"Are You sure?"

"Of course," Lily assured sincere while she cursed this obnoxious castellan.

Catharina's gaze was now directed to the grave of her mother. There was no grave stone, just a mound of earth to indicate the grave and fresh flowers lay on it. Lily assumed that Catharina had lain them there.

"I`m not allowed to come here," Catharina began after a while, "but it is my birthday today and I just wanted to be with her," she said in a broken voice. Lily took a deep breath and took Catharina into her arms, who had again started to cry. Comforting Lily said to her: "On such a special day, you should not cry, Catharina. You should be happy. Happy Birthday!"

Catharina broke away from Lily's hug a little and looked up at her, who smiled at her kindly. "Thanks," she said with a tearful smile.

"How old are you now?" Lily asked more cheerfully now.

"Fourteen," Catharina said proudly. But then she turned her gaze back thoughtfully on the grave. "It's not that long ago that she died."

Lily knew she should not ask the girl, but her curiosity and a feeling told her that she should do it.

"How did she die?"

"She died during the torture," she said absently.

With this Lily had not expected. During the torture? What had her mother done that she had been tortured? And again, she was aware of what a terrible age she was in. Lily struggled with herself, should she ask her why she was tortured, or shouldn´t she? The memories would surely cause even more grief for Catharina. So she decided not to ask.

To Lily's surprise Catharina began to talk about her mother. "Mama was a Valkyrie like You. She has told me many stories of the Valkyries. I loved it when she did that. My father did not want her to tell me these stories, so she only told me when we were alone." Catharina paused.

Lily hadn´t thought for a while about what Jack had told her about the Valkyries. The last few weeks she had been busy trying to adapt to the medieval life. Hadn´t Walter said, that no Valkyries would live here? And Jack had said that you were a Valkyrie because of your origin. This meant that Catharina would also be one. Lily knew she had to talk again to Jack about this.

"It was cold and rainy when Mama came back late at night from the city. She had found a wounded man on her way and brought him here. I could not sleep at that night and I was looking for her when I was in the barn, I kept it a secret ... She wanted to help the man. He looked terrible. In his chest was a piece of wood and in his belly were stuck knives. Mama pulled the knives out ...", Catharina took a deep breath, "Mama was talking to the man, but he looked like he were already dead. He did not move and made no sound. Then she cut into her arm with her knife ... "

Catharina had to breathe deeply again, to continue to talk.

"Just then my father came to the stable ... He insulted Mama. He told her she was a witch and she would be with the devil. He then went to her and struck her in the face. He then asked how she could dare to help this demon. He pulled out her of the stable ..."

Catharina began to cry again. After she had calmed down, she continued.

"The next day, priests arrived and took Mama and they chopped off the head of the man and burned him. They said he would be a Nachzehrer. I stood in the door and shouted at my father that he must not allow them to take Mama. But he told me that she was no longer my mother. She was a witch and if I were not careful, I would end up just like her... All Valkyries were witches and carried something evil inside them. A few days later, Mama was dead. I could not say goodbye to her."

Lily hugged Catharina again and tried to give her support. Lily was speechless. She did not know what to say. Walter had given his own wife to the Inquisition. Only because she wanted to help a wounded man who was dying.

"Lily, You have to be careful. Father hates the Valkyries and if You supply him with a reason, he will accuse You of being evil and then the priests will take You also and the Lord will not be able to do anything about it."

Lily's thoughts turned over. Catharina had just warned her about Walter. From the beginning he have been hostile towards her and Jack. And in recent weeks she had noticed that Walter had tried repeatedly to get her to make a mistake. Lily knew that he was angry that she had now been adapting so well.

She felt incredibly sorry for Catharina. She did not deserve such a father. Catharina needed affection and love, not only dislike and hatred. She should see that there were people who liked her. So, Lily decided to give her something since she had her birthday today.

After Catharina had calmed down, Lily said to her. "I think we should head back to the castle." Catharina wiped the tears from the face and then nodded.

When the two arrived at the castle, there was excitement. In the courtyard stood a cart on which lay a corpse, which was covered with a white cloth. Quick Lily took Catharina´s hand and led her into the castle. Apparently someone was killed here and because everyone was upset and running frantically through the area, it seemed to be a murder.

Inside the castle Lily could hear Walter calling instructions. Lily usually tried to avoid meeting the castle guard and she wanted to so again now, by simply disappearing up into her room. Because now she could not stand him at all, not after what she had just heard about him. But she was not fast enough. Walter discovered the two.

"Lilian ... Catharina... good thing that I meet You ", the bailiff said trying to be friendly, but in his voice carried something that sounded like trouble.

"Catharina, haven´t I told you not to bother Lilian?" Walter said sternly to his daughter and raised his eyebrows questioningly. Catharina stood in front of him now confused and intimidated.

"Walter", Lily began kindly, "Catharina does not bother me. And besides, we met by chance and then came inside together." To distract him from the subject, Lily then went on anxiously. "It seems that something terrible has happened."

Walter had now turned his attention to Lily and made a gesture for Lily and Catharina to follow him into the great hall, and they did. On the table were several large wooden crosses and garlic. Lily wrinkled her brow in confusion and before she could continue to consider it, Walter explained, "A Nachzehrer has been inhabiting this area. There has already been a victim. I have requested that the guards be doubled." Walter paused and stepped at the table.

Again this word Nachzehrer. What was it? Lily had never heard that word before. Walter took a cross and garlic. The garlic had been tied to a cord. Walter went up to Lily and her while he hung the necklace of garlic around her neck and pressed her the cross into her hand, he said sternly and contemptuously: "Now You aren´t allowed leave the castle alone. And I demand of You that You always carry the cross and the garlic with You. You have adapted very well. And there is hope for You that You will not succumb to evil. But nevertheless Valkyries attract Nachzehrer and therefore You will follow my instructions."

Lily was boiling inside, but didn´t show it she just kept silent and endured it. But before she could say something about it, she heard Jack saying. "It's not in Your duty to make regulations for my ward."

Oh, how Lily hated that word "ward". Lily knew that women in the Middle Ages were never mature in their lives. First it was the father, who was responsible for his daughter and if there was no father or the woman married the husband or a relative of the woman became the guardian. Lily knew that Jack hated it too, but she also knew that she could trust him. Lily turned around. Not only Jack had come into the room but also Gabriel and Azrael.

Now the castle guard, Jack and Gabriel began talking. Now she would disappear, so that she was no longer in Walter's line of fire. Jack would tell her everything later. She also wanted to give Catharina something and it was in her room. When Lily turned and walked out the door to the stairs, she had time to think of the word Nachzehrer and she had an idea what it might mean because of the few hints given. Catharina had said the man had a piece of wood in the chest. Her mother had cut into her arm, why? Crosses and garlic. Could it be that a Nachzehrer was nothing else than a ...

Lily did not come further with their thoughts, because Azrael spoke to her and he seemed to be amused. "Lily, I must say, this necklace of garlic suits you very well." Then he started to laugh.

"Are you laughing at me?," Lily asked pretending to be angry. She loved to joke with Azrael.

"Lily, I would never laugh at you," Azrael replied innocently. 

Then Lily was on her way again and Azrael accompanied her. Azrael seemed to want to say something, but still waited. When they arrived in her room, he said gravely: "Lily, in one point I have to agree with Walter. You shouldn´t leave the castle alone in the near future."

Lily smiled at him and replied: "There is apparently a murderer on the loose." Then she took off the necklace of garlic and put it together with the cross as far away as possible from her.

"How was your walk?" Azrael quickly changed the subject.

"First, it was as always, but then I met Catharina and ...", Lily took a deep breath," she told me how her mother died, or rather how she was murdered."

Azrael frowned quizzically: "She was murdered?"

"Well, … I think you wouldn´t call it that ... the Inquisition tortured her and during that she died."

"Really?" Azrael asked amazed, which made Lily a bit suspicious. Azrael apparently knew nothing about it. Lily's gaze slid back to the cross and the garlic and she now had the chance to ask someone, since it seemed that the others believed she knew what a Nachzehrer was.

"Azrael, what is a Nachzehrer?"

Azrael seemed not to have anticipated this question. He now looked at Lily thoughtfully and was indecisive. Lily began to give him an explanation.

"Well, Catharina has used this word when she spoke of why her mother was arrested and tortured and then Walter has used this word, too. And I would now like to know what it means."

Azrael took a few steps and then stopped in front of the cross and garlic. He took the cross in his hand and looked at it when he said something: "Actually I cannot tell you this because we made an agreement, that you first should find your own way in this time. And it's not my job."

"Who is we?" And in her mind Lily added: Again with these idiotic rules, everyone telling me little pieces of the puzzle.

"Jack, Gabriel and me. Although as far as I can see you know it all ready. I think you know it by a different word."

"Well, then it's not a problem to tell me what it is," Lily said impatiently.

Azrael looked at her for a long time and he seemed to wrestle with whether he should tell her or not. Finally he said: "I will tell you, because we are friends and I think it's about time, since this incident has happened. In the various regions of the world, there are various names and myths. In this area people call it Nachzehrer. Another word for it would be undead. According to local folklore, they suck the life force from the people ..."

Lily did not let Azrael speak on, because he had only confirmed her suspicions. "So they think this man was killed by a vampire."

Azrael seemed to know the word, which took Lily by surprise, because she thought she had read that this word hadn´t existed in the Middle Ages. And then she spoke her next thought aloud which she shouldn´t really do because Azrael was with her and he did not come from her time.

"Well, as far as I know many people have believed in this superstition in the past. But that's all humbug. There are no vampires!"

Azrael wanted to say something, but did not and then let the silence spread. After a while, Lily broke the silence.

"Catharina has a birthday today. And I was thinking of giving her something."

Azrael smiled at her. "This is a nice idea. She will be pleased to receive something. What do you want to give her?"

"I thought, I would give her a necklace."

"... of garlic?" Azrael added with a smile and Lily had to laugh. Lily got up and went to the wardrobe. She opened it and took out her bag, which she then put on the table.

"You know, that you are not allowed to show me your stuff," Azrael said with great seriousness.

While Lily rummaged around in her bag, she replied: "I do not want to. I just want to get the necklace."

It took a while before Lily had the necklace, because it was far from easy to move the other stuff in her bag while she looked for it. Finally, she held a silver necklace with a pendant in the air. The pendant was a little angel. Azrael sat on the chair beside her and looked away, out the window. Because she wanted to repack her bag, she gave him the necklace as she said simultaneously: "Can you hold this for a moment?"

Azrael had not seen the necklace, he had not even turned his head in her direction, but simply held out his open hand. Lily dropped it in his hand and turned away as the necklace fell taking the bag and putting it back in the wardrobe.

She heard that Azrael curse and turned around quickly. He had jumped from the chair and had squeezed his hand into a fist. The necklace was on the floor.

Azrael stammered apologetically, but Lily could hear pain in his voice: "I'm sorry ... Lily. The necklace fell out of my hand ... "

Something inside told her that was not quite the truth, but Azrael had never lied to her before. She picked up the necklace and then replied: "It's not that bad. I should bring it to Catharina now."

Azrael nodded and both left the room. Once at the bottom of the stairs, Lily remembered that she had forgotten the nice vampire deterrent measure and when she remembered she could not prevent herself from rolling her eyes as she saw Walter was still in a debate with Gabriel and Jack. Catharina was sitting at the table. Of course, Walter had to notice immediately that she wasn't wearing the nice garlic necklace any longer and looked at her unhappily.

To avoid trouble and get it out of the way, Lily quickly turned to Walter and said: "I hung the garlic on my window and wanted to get a new one now for my neck. You never know whether or not the Count will come in through my window."

Lily could not resist grinning and turned around quickly to act as if she would speak to Azrael, who stared at her confused and questioningly. Lily was sure it had something to do with what she had said.

"Good," Walter said a little taken aback, but then he actually left the room. As the door slammed shut, Lily could hear Jack laughing. She turned around again. Gabriel looked between her and Jack a little confused and staring back and forth. When Jack saw this, he tried to stop the laughter by biting his lip.

"I do not understand what is so funny now?" Gabriel just had to say.

"Actually ... nothing ..." Jack replied, and had great difficulty not to laugh again.

"And then why are you laughing?" Gabriel now demanded an explanation.

"Because ... because ... it was more about how Lily has said it and ..." Jack laughed again, Gabriel appeared to grow impatient.

Lily turned to Catharina and ignored the others in the room. "Catharina, you've got a birthday today and I thought to myself that I might give you something." Lily held now high the silver necklace with an angel pendant. Catharina's eyes grew larger with joy.

"When I was about as old as you, my mom gave me this necklace. It should now belong to you. Just like you it's a good angel." Lily smiled at her and gave her the necklace. Catharina had tears in her eyes. Lily was certain that they were tears of joy. When she turned back to Jack, she saw that he had put a hand over his mouth and his eyes stared at Catharina and the necklace. He looked as if he had just solved a tricky puzzle. 


	12. Midnight Swim

**Hi! I´m back with a new chapter. Thank you so much Jat and Betsal for your reviews. It´s always great to get feedback. Feel hugged.**

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54**

**Midnight Swim**

Lily lay in her bed and rolled over from one side to another. She would not have suspected it could happen, but the heat that had dominated for days, had now arrived in her room. The usually cool and drafty room was actually warm even without a fire burning. Lily stood up and opened the big window, hoping she could let in the cool night air, but it did not really change anything. She urgently needed to cool down. How she longed to jump into the cool water and to give her heated body a chance to let the cold water to cool her down.

Eagerly she gazed out the window and saw the small forest with the lake, which lay close beside the castle. Lily knew that there was a door that lead out to the grove. She could just go out, run over to the lake and just jump into it. No one would notice. But she had promised Jack not to leave the castle alone. Especially not in the middle of the night when a killer who seemed to be quite dangerous, that the people were calling a vampire or a demon, was still walking around freely. She did not really want to fall into the hands of a murderer. Suddenly she had an idea. Jack might accompany her, then she would not be alone and he could protect her. Lily knew that Jack was able to fight, she had experienced that when the Legion had attacked.

Impulsively she left her room and moments later she stood in front of Jack's door, knocked and opened the door impatiently without receiving an answer.

"Jack, I'm sorry that I am bursting in here, but I have to ask you something," she said apologetically to Jack, who sat on his bed reading a book that did not come from the Middle Ages, he now looked up in amazement at Lily.

"I just can't stand the heat any longer! I really need to cool down. And I thought, now would be the best time to go secretly for a swim in the lake," she declared strongly.

Jack closed the book, put it aside and let out a sigh. "Lily, you know you cannot just jump into a lake. Frankly, this is beyond my understanding, but apparently people find it not suitable for a woman of your position to do something like that."

"I know Jack, but it's night and nobody would have to know," Lily insisted.

"And then there's the problem that you are not allowed to leave the castle alone ..." Jack continued.

"That's why I wanted to ask if you would join me. I would not be alone and I know that you can protect us if this murderer appears", Lily argued.

Jack took a deep breath, then telling Lily with shaking his head: "No Lily, I cannot. I could protect you from a human murderer, but not from a vampire."

"Oh please, Jack. Now stop with this old wives' tale. And why should this murderer show up here at the lake?"

"Lily, I do not know ..."

"Come on, Jack. I just want to jump in briefly, I will cool down and then we will return here. It will not take long," Lily tried again.

"Lily, listen! I know that this heat is unbearable, but it's just too dangerous. I can´t protect you there," he rejected her request and then added more softly, without thinking: "We should have taken you along with us earlier."

"What do you mean, take me with you?", Lily asked with interest. "Does this mean that you were swimming earlier?"

Jack let out a deep breath and the look on his face revealed that he could slap himself for the last sentence. He had now given her a reason that he could not get around to take her to the lake. Reluctantly, he answered honestly to her question.

"Yes, it means that. But it was not planned. Azrael and I were out there earlier and were talking, and so no one could hear our conversation, we left the castle. Well, because this heat was now becoming unbearable and Azrael really needed to cool off, we went to the lake. Azrael jumped into the lake and, well, it was not very long and I could not simply resist the cool water any longer either."

Lily looked at him now accusingly. "And now I will be the only one who cannot benefit from this relief?"

Jack thought for a moment, ran his hand over his face, stood up and said, "Okay, but it no one must notice, especially Walter, who had earlier over reacted to your actions. If Gabriel had not been there, he would have locked you in your room and me as well because I would not let it happen."

Lily smiled at him now, gratefully embraced him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Well, I will put on my bikini fast." And then Lily quickly disappeared.

In no time she put on her bikini and then a dress over it, she also put up her hair so it would not get wet, because if they would be caught it would be a clear proof and then Walter would punish her for sure. When Lily was back in Jack's room, she saw Jack putting a gun in his pants waistband.

"You have a gun with you?" Lily asked, in shock and surprise.

"Yes, and I'm going to take along, because no one is familiar with this kind of weapon here and that will give us an advantage, if a hostile vampire shows up," Jack said seriously.

Lily rolled her eyes in disbelief and then said: "Ignoring the fact that there are no vampires, since when you can kill vampires with a gun?"

Now Jack had to smile. "Not kill, but the silver bullets in this gun can weaken him and to knock him out."

"Silver bullets?" Lily asked confused, "Isn´t that something used against werewolves?"

Jack gave her no answer, but went up to her and announced, "What? Are you ready to go?" Lily nodded eagerly.

Jack and Lily slipped out like two teenagers who wanted to a party without the permission of their parents and moved through the corridors of the castle. Mostly, everyone had been in his room a long time and was sleeping, but the heat probably had not only kept Jack and Lily awake, but also the other inhabitants of the castle, who were now on the ground floor, where it was not as warm or in the courtyard. And of course, some of them were afraid of the Nachzehrer and kept watch in spite of the many guards on the castle wall and at the castle gates.

Fortunately, Lily and Jack came to the small unlocked door in the castle wall unseen. Lily had to shake her head in amazement as she thought about the fact that this door was not locked. With all the excitement and hysteria that had prevailed this afternoon and with the doubling of the guards, it should really have included that all entrances to the castle were also secured. On the other hand, it was now to their advantage to be able to leave the castle.

But the way from the castle to the woods would not be easy, because there were guards on the castle wall and they could discover them if they really performed their jobs conscientiously. The two were lucky, because apparently they had picked a favorable moment, or the guards were asleep during their working hours. On the one hand, Lily was very happy because it allowed her to leave the castle, but then she was also angry because it was their duty to guard the castle, the castle inhabitants relied on them.

Jack sat on the large rock beside the lake, while Lily began to take off her dress. Lily wore only her simple, black bikini, but didn´t go immediately into the water, but only stood looking around. Jack looked at her face and smiled.

"What are you waiting for?"

Lily turned her gaze now to Jack and said, "I just wanted to make sure no one followed us."

And then she walked slowly into the water that felt wonderful on her skin. Lily loved to swim and especially with the temperatures prevailing at the moment. When Lily was deep enough, she swam a few small circles near the shore where Jack was. Jack broke the long silence between them, saying with a smile to her: "It is wonderful, right?"

Lily now stood up in the water that reached her just below her shoulders. "Oh yes, that's it," she paused, breathed and then continued, "Thanks, Jack!"

Then Jack smiled at her. Lily had just turned away again from Jack, and swam a few strokes away, when she heard a different, well-known voice that Jack greeted in a friendly manner. She stopped moving, took a deep breath and tried to think of a suitable explanation for why she was now half-naked in the middle of the night outside the castle in this lake.

"Hi Lily!" She heard Gabriel's voice saying, but his voice did not sound angry or disappointed. That made Lily sigh in relief and gave her hope that there would be no trouble, or at least would not make much trouble, and she turned around slowly. Gabriel stood with arms folded next to Jack and his gaze was directed straight at Lily, his face showing a little grin.

Lily also noticed that he had his sword with him, hanging from his belt. Gabriel usually wore no weapons in the castle.

"Hello," Lily stated carefully.

"What a coincidence that I meet you two here," Gabriel said, and then looked questioningly at Jack.

Jack got up from the stone, and seemed to be a little nervous as was reflected in his voice. "Gabriel ... um ... I know that I agreed that we shouldn't leave the castle without you or Azrael, but because Lily really needed a little cooling off and ..." Jack got no further, because Gabriel interrupted him.

"Jack, I know this heat isn´t easy to bear for anyone. And I can also understand that you two have slipped out of the castle, so that Lily isn´t seen by anyone, as she bathes naked in a lake. But Jack, if you'd have asked one of us to accompany you, it would have been no problem."

Jack let out a relieved sigh and Lily knew that there would be no trouble, but once again she did not know about everything and that she really made her angry. Why did they always keep her in the dark? She had had enough, but before she could say anything, Gabriel spoke to Jack. "Jack, Walter wants to talk with you. He has been looking all over the castle for you. You better go to him."

"At this hour?" Jack asked stunned, then turned to Lily. "Lily, we should really go back again."

Gabriel interrupted now before Lily could react. "Jack, Lily can stay here if she wants to. I'll take care of her and also if you were both to cross the path of Walter, he would only be suspicious."

"Good," Jack said, and left the lake.

Lily could no longer suppress her anger and said to Gabriel: "Well, first of all, I'm not naked, and where does come this change of mind come from suddenly that there is no problem that I am bathing in a lake? If I remember correctly, Gabriel, have you explained to me that it is not fitting for a lady to swim in a lake!" Lily let her anger air out.

Gabriel turned to her again and he had a really cheeky grin on his lips that now made her incredibly angry.

"Lily, your dress is right at my feet, so it is only logical to assume that you are naked ... okay, maybe you still wear the pectoralis fascia ..."

"What is that? Fascia ..." Lily asked now curious. Strangely, her curiosity always won out over her anger.

Gabriel looked at her in amazed. "Um ... I should not have to use the Latin word for it ... Chest bandage."

"Oh ..." Lily said, she had heard at on) time that women had used fabric wrapped around their breasts not only to have more support but also to hide their female charms. Until now she had not really thought about what people wore under their gowns in the Middle Ages. She had simply worn her normal underwear consisting of bra and panties. This did answer the question, these women wore a breast binder instead of a bra.

With raised eyebrows, and a sweet, mischievous smile, Gabriel asked her now: "And? Do you still wear it?"

Apparently Gabriel hadn't noticed the two thin straps that were on Lily's shoulders. Lily also wore a mischievous grin and countered: "Come find out!"

But in the next moment, Lily wished, she had not spoken and put a hand over her mouth. What had come over her? In front of her stood a man who had no idea of flirting in the 21st century. And why did she even flirt with him? Hopefully he would not misunderstand her. She hadn´t behaved in a socially acceptable manner.

Lily saw that Gabriel looked at her inquiringly as if thinking about something. After a moment, he exhaled audibly and asked: "Did you seriously mean that?"

"Um ... well ... you ... asked this question ... and then... um ... no," Lily stammered. How should she explain it? To get out of this unpleasant situation, she simply asked him another question. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to go swimming," was his honest answer.

"Aha ... well, who does not, in this heat," Lily began hesitantly, and then continued confidently, "What are you waiting for? The lake is big enough for both of us."

"Lily, we're here alone and if anybody should notice, then ..." Gabriel paused mid-sentence and searched for the right words.

Lily took this break. "Who should see us here? It's middle of the night and as far as I know, no one voluntarily leaves the castle now. And besides, we are only swimming in a lake and doing nothing else ..." Lily said the last words a little quieter.

Gabriel seemed to struggle with himself. Finally, he said, "You're right."

"Well then. What are you waiting for?"

Gabriel took Lily's last words as an invitation and began to undress. Lily did not have her eyes fixed upon him, but was still looking in his direction. Gabriel did not seem bothered and why, should he when he would only take off his shirt and trousers? Only Lily had not expected that Gabriel would give her an impressive and explicit explanation of what men wore in the Middle Ages under their pants. Nothing. At first Lily did not know what to do. It was not like that she had never seen a naked man before, but she could not prevent her cheeks from slowly turning red. She quickly turned around and first had to take a deep breath, because what she had just involuntary seen, was not bad ...

Lily could hear that Gabriel come into the water, so she turned back. He now looked at her again with this questioning expression, but asked no question. Every time he looked at her so, she could not help but ask him what he wanted to know.

"What?" She only said this time.

"Nothing," was his reply.

Lily moved closer to him. The water level was not as deep, and thus her bikini top came into view. When she was only three feet away from him, she said invitingly, "So, every time you look at me like that, you want to know something. What is it this time? And do not say nothing again!"

"Actually, it's nothing, Lily. Your reaction has just surprised me. And I'm just wondering why you have reacted so."

Why it had taken him by surprise? Wasn´t it normal to turn around out of decency, if someone who was just a friend was undressing? And she was in the Middle Ages, there had to be very different morals practiced here.

Lily took a deep breath and then said. "Well, it seemed that everyone would turn around in this situaton."

"I did not mean that." Gabriel's eyes looked directly into hers.  
It was dark. He could not see that she flushed red. That was impossible. Not from this distance. Oh god, that was embarrassing.

"I do not know what you mean," Lily replied quickly and Gabriel grinned again as if knowing that she had not told the truth.

"Oh yes, you know," he continued to say now. Lily knew very well that she could only get out of this situation, which she had created for herself until she could not let him to continue to ask his question until she had given him an explanation. So she took a deep breath and tried to push aside the embarrassing feeling.

"I did not expect that you would be naked. It has just surprised me," Lily muttered more than speaking clearly.

Lily could see that Gabriel was again frowning quizzically so apparently her statement wasn't understandable.

"You thought I would go swimming with my clothes?"

Another deep breath of Lily. "No, not that. But I thought you would still be wearing something. I do not know how to explain it," Lily admitted.

Gabriel looked at her thoughtfully for a few minutes and then he said, "Well, that probably has something to do with your time." And with that he closed the subject.

She would like to tell him some things about her time, but he would never let it happen. Jack and Gabriel had told her that it was dangerous for fate travelers, as Gabriel called them, if someone who didn´t know the laws or didn´t care, knew about it. He could try to force information about the future from them. However, there was a catch to the whole thing, you could not change the future. It was simply impossible. Jack and Lily were just visitors in this period and would sooner or later return back to their own time.

Gabriel gave her a friendly smile, that Lily returned and in the meantime this nice smile of Gabriel brought her butterflies to her stomach.

"Well, I should swim a little." And he proceeded to put his words into practice.

After a moment, Lily decided to swim a little, too. A few things were running through her head. Why had she flirted with Gabriel and why did she go red like a teenager who saw a naked man for the first time? She stopped, paddling with her feet in an upright position and with her hands keeping her balance. Deeply absorbed in her thoughts Lily didn´t notice that she was getting too close to the yellow water lily in the darkness to recognize it. She only recognized that she had swum pretty far away from the shore. Suddenly she felt something on her leg. Shocked she tried to swim away quickly and let out a little scream. But because of her rash actions she had put her legs in a horizontal position and she had gotten with one leg caught in the loops of the water lily. Her movements caused the plant to now wrap around her leg and it was like a rope holding her. Through the darkness she could not see what held her and panic began to spread out inside her. She tried to free herself by struggling with her leg, but this made the whole thing worse. The noose drew tighter and at the same time she was pulled under water. She tried to stay calm and to reach with one hand on the loop to free herself. But she just could not reach it and while it must have only been a few seconds that passed, it felt like an eternity. She had just let out a breath as she was pulled under the water surface and now she already struggled for air.

Unexpectedly, she felt a powerful jerk as the noose of water lily broke away from her leg and then a hand wrapped around her stomach, pulling her to the water's surface. Gasping for air she saw Gabriel's worried face. Although they were now far enough away from the lake rose, but they were still so far from shore that you could not feel the ground under your feet yet. Gabriel held her firmly now just under her arms and automatically Lily had put her arms on Gabriel's shoulders. Actually, it would have been better if they had just begun swimming to the shore. Lily's breathing slowly calmed down and when she could speak again, she said, honestly and sincerely "Thanks!"

Gabriel nodded with a relieved smile and looked in Lily's eyes. Lily looked back at him and gazed into his mysterious, dark eyes, she could lose herself in. Lily seemed to forget everything around her, only this one moment counted. And she also wanted to be nowhere else than right here in Gabriel's arms in the middle of the lake. Slowly moving their heads simultaneously towards each other, they were just millimeters from having their lips touch, when they both suddenly fell back, letting go of each other and swimming to shallower water. An awkward silence had now settled between the two and both avoided looking at each other.

Lily was getting cold and she knew she should get out of the water. The last thing she wanted, was to get sick while she was in the Middle Ages. So she turned her head slowly to Gabriel, but avoided looking him in the eye.

"I should go back now."

Gabriel nodded and said a little tensely, "Well, I think if you go back the direct route, you should not be harmed."

Lily did not know why, but his words caused a small puncture to her heart. Did she want for him to accompany her? Why wouldn't he come with her? But one thing she knew she would not leave while this tense atmosphere was still between them.

And whether it was the right thing or not, what she was considering now, she had no idea if it would it make matters even worse, but she could think of nothing better.

Lily cleared her throat, put on a funny smile and said with a non-serious voice: "I would now like to leave the water and get dressed."

At first Gabriel looked blankly at her, but then wiped off his face the blank expression and a smile appeared on his face.. "I won´t stop you," he said with conviction.

"Well yes, but it would be nice if you would turn around."

"Why," Gabriel asked, now he was in the mood for jokes.

"Because I'm wearing nothing," Lily said, and had to suppress her laughter by pressing her lips together.

Shaking his head, he replied her: "That's not true. You are wearing something."

"How do you know that," Lily asked playfully indignantly.

And now on Gabriel's lips appeared the mischievous grin that Lily liked so much.

"I have seen it and ...", he began, but then paused, because he didn´t want to finish the sentence.

"And?" Lily had to ask with raised eyebrows.

Gabriel hesitated, looked again straight into her face and then continued saying: "That's why I do not have to turn around." Lily couldn´t let go of the feeling that he really wanted to say something else. She didn´t want to dig any further, because then the relaxed mood could quickly disappear.

Without something to say, Lily walked slowly out of the water. She couldn´t see Gabriel, but she knew he watched her. When she had reached the shore, she grabbed her dress and pulled it over her head, put on her shoes and realized that her hair was wet. And now she really hoped she wouldn´t be seen by anyone, because how should she explain her wet hair. Then she turned back to Gabriel and said smiling to him: "I will go now. Thanks for the nice evening."

Gabriel replied to her smile and that gave her a silent, affirmative answer. When Lily set off, she could see from the corner of her eye, that Gabriel had sunk underneath the water completely. After she had gone the first few meters, the past few minutes shot through the head. What had just happened?

She had left the woods and was on a grassy surface, which extended from the forest to the castle, there were scattered small groups of trees and bushes broke up the green area. Lily forced herself not to think about it now, but to make sure that no one would see her from the castle wall. She was still not close enough, because it was dark and this restricted the visibility of the guards on the wall, but she still had to be careful.

Out of nowhere, suddenly, three men stood in front of her, eying her with dangerous smiles. Lily's heart didn´t beat faster because she was in shock. The whole manner in which they smiled, warned her and their posture showed Lily that she was in big trouble, if not in deadly trouble. Her thoughts began to move rapidly. What options did she have? Cry? Running away? To the castle or back to the lake? The path to the lake was shorter. She could manage to reach Gabriel before they would overtake her. Fighting? Against three armed men? Slowly she put one foot after the other in a backward motion, so to gain more distance. The men seemed not to react because they stayed where they were.

One of the men who stood in the middle, said to her in a fear-inspiring tone: "You do not want to run away, right?"

Lily stopped her movements and could not prevent starting to tremble with fear. The man then closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose. "Fear! A wonderful scent!"

When the man opened his eyes again, their color had changed. They shone bright white. He smiled at her coldly and Lily could now see his teeth. She could not believe her eyes. He had two fangs. The eyes of the other two now shone brightly, too and Lily didn´t need see their teeth, she also knew that now behind their closed mouths were vampire teeth. Lily could not move because of her fear. What should she do now?

"I'm sure you'll taste wonderful!" The vampire stated as he licked his lips in anticipation. 


	13. Vampires exist

_**Hi my dear readers! Here is the new chapter. Jat, thanks so much for beta-reading. Jat and Betsal, thank you for your reviews. It´s so good to get feedback.**_

_**Jat, I´m glad you like the flirting between Lily and Gabriel. Oh, Gabriel understood her but I think a bit different than Lily meant it. **_

_**Betsal, I´m glad you liked the scene. Yes, Gabriel is an old and powerful vampire…**_

_**Translated: Cleo28**_

_**Beta: Moonjat54**_

**Vampires exist**

Lily's heart pounded in her chest, her breathing had quickened and sweat appeared on her forehead. Her only thought was that she had to vanish from here as quickly as possible, to get to safety. When the vampire moved slowly to her, Lily responded quickly by turning around and rushing away. But she did not get far. After just a few steps, she felt a cold hand that grabbed her arm and she was pulled back with a jerk. Instinctively, Lily began to fight back, but the firm grip on her arm didn´t break off, but became stronger and caused a sharp pain, which made her scream. He mercilessly tugged at her aching arm, to rotate her to him. Tears flooded her eyes in pain. Despite the intense pain in her arm and the knowledge that she had no chance against a vampire, she did not stop defending herself against her tormentor. She continued to fight, fought desperately for her life. She kicked with her feet and beat her fists against him.

The smallest of the three with disheveled, brown hair, was standing a few steps behind the vampire, who had Lily in his power, said with slight amusement to his buddy: "We found a real wild cat!"

The third one who was in cahoots with them, who had until now kept quietly in the background, let an icy smile appear on his lips and said cheerfully: "How lucky we are! That will make it even more fun!"

The leader of this small group took his free hand and stroked Lily almost gently on her cheek, while he promised his allies: "I think we should show the wild cat, how a mouse feels when it is caught by a cat!" Then he turned his head back slightly and continued joyfully: "Guys, let's play!"

And in the moment he let go of Lily. The firm grip had vanished from her arm, but he had left a throbbing pain. She became aware that these three vampires would torture and play with her until they lost the lust for their new toy and would kill her. She was sure that they expected that she would try to escape them. And the cruel fact was she would not be able to escape them. Desperately, she looked around for a solution so she could escape these murderous and cruel vampires. Her fear of death paralyzed her, but when the leader came closer, her will to survive overcame the crippling fear and let her run again. This time she got on a few steps more before he held her again with his iron grip and seconds later she was pushed back rudely to the other two. Because of the heavy shove she lost her balance and she landed on her knees, she tried instinctively to cushion the impact with her arms. Now she was surrounded by the three vampires.

The little one went to his knees in front of her, smiled cruelly, took her arm and pulled her violently onto her feet. Still holding her, he forced her closer to him, gently stroking his hand over her wet hair and whispered in her ear: "You really have a beautiful face! I would like to know how you look under your dress!"

Lily was shaking with fear. It was a disgusting feeling, this nasty, disgusting vampire to be so close that she could feel his body and his breath on her neck. The other two laughed and gave their friend cheering shouts. She felt how his hand slowly wandered from her head over her neck to her cleavage. Once there, he touched the collar of her dress and attempted to tear it, but this did not happen, because suddenly he was dragged away from her, flew through the air and crashed against a thick tree, which caused a loud cracking noise, but the force of the impact did not break it.

The next moment she was grabbed in a softer grip and found herself behind a man, who placed himself protectively in front of her. His shirt stuck to his damp back and in his right hand he held a sword. Gabriel's left hand touched her still, and showed her exactly that she should stay behind his back. His touch gave her a feeling of security, but her fear was still there. Now she was no longer alone, but the dangerous situation was still there. How did Gabriel expect to take on three vampires? She was sure he was definitely a good fighter, but fighting against the three vampires who had superhuman strength, that was too much for even the best warrior to handle alone. However, Lily was surprised that the three vampires didn´t attack them, but kept a respectful distance, however, they had formed a new line, keeping a little distance between each other with drawn swords in front of Gabriel.

With a cold, scary voice that gave Lily a little shudder, Gabriel said to the three attackers, "How dare You to ignore the laws in front of my castle and my eyes!"

The leader replied scornfully: "I am not interested in the laws. I do what I like. And who should stop me? You?"

"You should not have said that. Now Your execution is a done deal," Gabriel said in a tone that raised no doubt of his words, but the vampire laughed, just amused. He seemed to be sure that Gabriel did not constitute serious danger to him. Lily did not understand exactly what was going on. What laws? And had Gabriel gone crazy to challenge these three vampires this way?

Unexpectedly, the reserved vampire said to his leader, "Sir, we should withdraw before it's too late. In front of us is not some harmless representatives of our species."

What did he just say? Representative of our species? And suddenly she realized that Gabriel's hand was cold. No, that could not be. Gabriel could not be a vampire. He had been with her on the day outside. Vampires couldn´t get into the sunlight without going up in flames ... Or?

"It is all ready too late for that," Gabriel said rejecting the request of the subject to his leader.

Full of anger and with hatred in his voice, said the head of this triumvirate said, "We will see who laughs the last here."

Then he turned to Lily with a promise in his tone: "Wild cat, don´t run away! It will not be long until we can have fun together again."

His words sank into Lily's soul, paralyzing her with fear again. Her heart, which had calmed down, beat again at a much too fast speed. Now Gabriel's hand disappeared from her arm. This contact had represented her safety and all of a sudden it was gone. She knew why he had done that, because the three vampires were attacking now. And he could not fight against three vampires, while he still held her. Not only for her own life did Lily now fear, but also for Gabriel´s life as well.

The little vampire had been sent forward by his leader and faced Gabriel. He hardly gave the impression that he regarded Gabriel as very worthy opponent. He had a secure victory smile on his lips. Their swords crossed. Lily could see Gabriel only from behind, but it looked as if it cost him little effort to fight against this vampire. Within seconds, Gabriel had disarmed him and held the blade of his sword to his neck. The vampire stared at Gabriel shocked and surprised.

"You wanted to rape a Valkyrie," Gabriel said as if rendering a verdict, and drew his sword back to let swing back again, but this time he did not stop it shortly in front of his neck, but swung through it and beheaded him. For a few seconds the head was still in the original position, but then fell down the side, the lifeless body of the vampire sank in on itself. In this terrible sight Lily had to suppress a cry by holding a hand over her mouth. Never in her life she had seen someone being beheaded ...

The other two vampires weren´t much impressed. Now the leader sent his other subject to Gabriel. But he himself took a few steps back, ran around the two combatants and headed for Lily, her eyes transfixed still on the corpse of the vampire and could not turn away from.

The next moment she was taken out of her rigidity, as Gabriel spoke to her. "Lily ... Lily, run to castle! Get yourself to safety!"  
Slowly, she turned her gaze to Gabriel, who prevented the boss to come closer to Lily. Gabriel's eyes shone brightly and while he spoke she could see his fangs.

He´s a vampire! Gabriel is a vampire! The knowledge shot through her head.

Lily could not move. She stood as if rooted. She saw from the corner of her eye that the other vampire who had fought against Gabriel a few seconds before, now stood in front of the woods and was coming toward her.

Again she heard Gabriel, how he was commanding, but also concerned when he shouted: "Run, Lily." This time her legs obeyed. She turned and ran as fast as she could to the little door in the castle wall. She did not look behind her, but expected at any minute that once again a cold hand would grab her and carry her back into this lethal situation.

But it did not happen. She tore open the door and sprinted through the courtyard to the large entrance of the castle. Out of breath and scared, she ran to the great hall. She had to go to Jack. He was certainly there. Walter had wanted to talk to him. She didn´t want to meet Walter under any circumstances, but she had no other choice, she had to get to Jack. Her legs felt heavy and a stitch in her side made it additionally difficult to breathe, when she tore open the door to the large hall vigorously and stumbled into the room.

She immediately caught Jack's attention, concerned he ran to her, took her in his arms and asked in concern, "What happened?"

Jack's closeness gave her the feeling of safety and security. Her breathing was still so fast that she could not answer him. Walter was not in the room as far as Lily could see it. But Azrael was just a few meters away from her and Jack. He came closer to Lily, closed his eyes, drew air with his nose deeply, looked at Jack and said softly explaining: "Vampires!" and then he disappeared through the still open door.

Lily was shaking all over. Actually she should have been surprised by Azrael´s behavior, but she was so busy trying to get her breathing and her fear under control that she simply was not thinking about it.

Jack spoke soothingly to Lily and promised her that everything would be fine. Jack's familiar voice let her slowly come out of her anxiety. Her breathing returned to normal.

"What happened, Lily? Are you hurt?" Jack asked now, when he saw that she had calmed down.

Lily shook her head. "No, I'm not injured. I ... I've been attacked by ..."

Lily stopped speaking further, because Walter had entered the room and interrupted her furiously. "You have been attacked? Where and by whom?" His look was completely focused on Lily and his eyes literally demanded an explanation.

Why did Walter always have to appear in the worst moments? He seemed to have a real gift for it. Lily could not tell him the truth. First, it would mean that she had opposed his orders, which he had issued as the castle guard for the safety of the castle's inhabitants so that no one would leave the castle at night without permission. Gabriel had told her that Walter had a certain authority. This would result in a punishment for her. And the other reason, also the main one was because of Gabriel. She could not tell him that she was attacked by vampires and Gabriel had saved her. And she was sure that it would come out that Gabriel was a vampire. She knew Walters attitude towards vampires. And she had just seen that his attitude was not entirely unfounded, but she also knew that Gabriel was different.

Lily could see that the castle guard was getting impatient, because he was moving up and down his right foot. What should she tell him? At the same time she also wanted to let know Jack what had happened.

"I'm waiting!" Walter said impatiently.

Lily swallowed and looked desperately for an explanation. Finally, she hoped to have found one. "Well, I was in my room and it was so hot in the room, I opened the large window to letting in the chilly night air." Lily hesitated. Until then she had told the truth. But how should she now proceed and sound credible.

Lily saw that Gabriel and Azrael appeared in the door and entered the room. It didn´t stop Walter from continuing to look at Lily accusingly and he asked in a more impatient and irritable tone.

"And? What happened then?"

Lily looked at Gabriel in quick relief. Nothing happened to him! She took a deep breath to tell further her story.

"Suddenly three bats flew in my room and attacked me."

"Bats?" the castle guard spat out in irritation.

Lily felt a load lift off her heart, apparently Walter didn´t know the myths that vampires could turn into bats, but Jack looked at her with understanding. He knew that she wanted to portray the events in a code.

"Yes, bats. I tried to get rid of them, but I could not until a fourth bat emerged and has beaten the other three in the flight."

Walter looked at her closely and said suspiciously, "And why do You have wet hair?"

Lily quickly tried to find an answer. "In my room was a bucket with water and as a bat was caught in my hair, I have tried to get rid of it by tipping the water over my head." Lily prayed now that he would buy her weak excuse.

Walter pulled his eyebrows together a little and looked at Lily. She could see in his eyes that he didn't believe her words. That was not good. Not good.

"A nice story You have just told. But I have never heard that bats attack people and especially not in a room. So, where were You in reality? I really hope for Your sake that You didn´t leave the castle."

What should Lily do? She looked to Jack, who was also searching intently for a solution. Lily got nervous and she always had a habit of tugging at her sleeves and to dig into her palms.

"Walter," sounded a voice from the entrance of the hall, "just because You have not heard of it, it does not mean that bats would not do such a thing. And Lily's experience has now shown us that it is indeed possible." With these words Gabriel came closer to the three.

"It does not mean that she was telling the truth", the castle guard replied stubbornly holding on to his convictions. Attracted to Lily's nervous plucking at her sleeve, he paid attention to her wrists. He didn´t avert his gaze when Gabriel said something to him.

"No, that´s true. But I've seen before in fact two bats flying through the air, which have been in the vicinity of Lily's room," Gabriel said convincingly and with a smile on his lips.

The castle guard didn´t reply, but came closer to Lily and told her with a hateful and threatening voice: "Show me Your wrists!"

Lily stared at him in shock and unable to say anything, let alone comply with his request. Walter´s impatience grew with each elapsed second. Finally, he wanted to grab Lily's wrist to pull the sleeve itself, but he had not reckoned with Jack, who immediately stepped protectively in front of Lily, or with Gabriel, who had grabbed his arm to divert him from his purpose.

"Walter, You have no right, to touch or examine Lily without her consent or Jack´s."

Then the castle guard pressed his lips together angrily, his whole body was tense and his hands, formed into fists. Walter turned around and walked with quick steps out the hall, slamming the door behind him.

Lily was still staring at the door through which Walter had stormed out angrily when Gabriel made the suggestion to talk in another safe room. She was engrossed in her thoughts. A terrible reminder had been re-awakened. Horrible screams, gunshots, and then these words: Show me your wrists! And this hatred in his voice ...

Slowly, Jack's voice penetrated her consciousness and ripped her from her traumatic memories.

"Hey Lily, is everything all right? We want to go to another room."

Lily turned her head to Jack, who looked at her with a worried expression. Without thinking, Jack took Lily by the arm. He seemed to know at what Lily had just remembered. When Lily could feel his closeness, she could not hold back her tears. 


	14. Reality and Myth

_**Hi my dear readers! I´m back with the next chapter. Thanks for your reviews. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. **_

_**Translated: Cleo28**_

_**Beta: Moonjat54  
**_

**Reality and Myth**

Gabriel stood at the window in his room and looked deep at the sunrise while deep in thought. Slowly, the fiery disc on the horizon pushed up higher and higher in the sky. His room was situated to the north side and only at sunrise was there the direct sunlight, shining in which allowed the room to still remain cool in the heat, thanks to the thick stone walls, also. Although it was not the perfect temperature, which a vampire required, to regenerate, but it was still better than to be exposed to the hot temperatures. Slowly the room lit up in a warm, yellow light. Normally, this was a sign for Gabriel to go to bed, but there were so many things which he just has to deal with.

Lily appeared calm and collected when she had been convinced of the cruel existence of vampires. Of course she was afraid and was also in shock, but when she was in the great hall, he hadn't felt any of that. Her whole focus had been on Walter. She had tried desperately to give him an explanation that would not get her, him and Azrael him into trouble. It had surprised him that she hadn´t blurted out the truth shortly after that experience. She seemed nervous, but not shocked and then out of the blue she began to cry. Gabriel was sure it had nothing to do with the attack of the three criminals. The longer he thought about it the more clear the trigger became to Gabriel. Her feelings had changed abruptly when Walter had ordered her to show her wrists. But why did it trigger sad, if not terrible memories in Lily?

Jack had asked him to postpone the talk so that Lily could calm down. Of course he agreed, but it was hard for him to leave her alone. He wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her. At this thought, which triggered feelings deep inside him so, he forced himself not to think further about Lily, and to suppress the emerging feelings burying them in his mind for good. Later he would talk to her.

Slowly, he turned away from the window and went up to his bed, on which there were only a pillow and a sheet. Exhausted, he sat on the edge of the bed and took off his leather boots. Just when he was about to pull his shirt over his head, he heard excited shouts and cries from the courtyard. It seemed once again something was happening. He quickly put on his boots, grabbed his sword, which lay on a small table and went into the hall. There he met Azrael, who was still trying to put on his shirt properly. Together they went with quick steps out onto the courtyard.

Gabriel knew immediately when he entered the courtyard, what was the reason for the excitement. Another man had been killed. Two farmers from the vicinity had brought the corpse over here on their cart. Gabriel went up to the cart and pulled the cloth aside, which covered the corpse. The man had a bite wound on his neck and the vampire smell hit him in the nose.  
Azrael, who was standing next to him spoke in the frequency which vampires could only hear: "He was not killed by the three vampires that attacked Lily."

Gabriel nodded approvingly and said: "As it stands, we are dealing with a large gang, which go out at night and kill people indiscriminately. This attracts attention! We must do something about it." Gabriel grabbed the cloth and pulled) it over the corpse again.

Gabriel turned his attention to Walter, who was speaking excitedly with some security guards, interrupting the conversation only briefly to give the order to saddle his horse to the groom. That was not good. Certainly he was planning to ride to the city, where he wanted to get a squad together to hunt the vampire. He had been so focused on Walter´s talk that he had not noticed that Lily was slowly approaching. Only when Azrael spoke to her, did he turn to her.

She stopped briefly in front of him, breathed deeply and then said: "Agatha's husband didn't come home last night ... I convinced Agatha that she should stay inside and I would look to see who was dead ... Because… well… I think it's better if he´s terrible hurt, that she does not see him, but remember him as he was when he was alive."

Gabriel nodded and lifted the cloth up so far that his head and his shoulders were visible. Lily breathed deeply again. Tears welled up in her eyes when she looked into the face of the dead husband of Agatha.

Whispering she said to Gabriel without having looked at him: "Was it those three vampires?"

"No, it was someone else."

"How do you know?" Lily asked curiously.

"I can smell it", Gabriel answered her question shortly.

Lily stepped closer to the body, took the cloth and covered the corpse to the chin. "I think Agatha should not see that. I´m going to tell her now." Lily took a few deep breaths to give herself courage and disappeared.

Gabriel looked after her and the next moment Walter was racing with his horse past him and Azrael and headed to the big gate.

"Azrael, we should look around the area a little bit tonight." Azrael nodded and then left the courtyard.

It didn´t take long and Agatha came running from the castle. A few feet in front of the cart, she slowed, paused for a moment and then went quietly to her dead husband. When she had reached him, she stroked him tenderly on the cheek. Tears ran down her face and the next moment she sank to her knees with grief. Lily had also come back out and stood hesitantly next to Gabriel. Two other women came from the castle and helped Agatha back on her feet. Reassuringly, they talked to her and took her back into the building.

Gabriel and Lily were almost alone in the castle courtyard. Only the guards on the castle wall, in front of the big gate and a few men who had brought the body inside the castle, until the funeral would take place.

Lily hesitantly addressed a question to Gabriel. "Vampires need blood to live, right? Um, Does a human always have to die when ... a vampire bites him?"

Gabriel turned his attention to Lily and was somewhat surprised that she now wanted to talk to him about vampires. Although, on the other hand, it was quite natural, after what had happened to her. "No, a human does not have to die. Lily, maybe we should talk more about it elsewhere."

Gabriel protectively held his hand in front of his face, to protect himself against the morning sun rays. The rays were still weak, but because there has been this unbearable heat for days and he could not really regenerate properly, these harmless rays were enough to weaken him further.

"Why? There is almost no one..." Lily interrupted mid-sentence, looked at him curiously and then continued: "It is because of the sun, right?"

Gabriel nodded and without another word to each other both went to a side door. After several minutes the two were in Gabriel's room. Lily looked around curiously. "I've never been to this part of the castle. It is cooler here," Lily noticed.

"Yes, it is but still not cool enough," Gabriel replied thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Lily had to ask.

Gabriel turned his attention to Lily and gave her an explanation. "To recover, we need a cold environment."

Lily looked at him with understanding, but then she let her gaze wander through his room and remained on the bed, grinning she said: "You do not sleep in a coffin?" Smiling Gabriel shook his head.

On one wall were two big leather chairs and between them stood a dark brown table. Gabriel asked her to sit down, Lily didn´t hesitate and settled in the chair. Gabriel stood still for a moment hesitating, to then sat in the chair which was free. Unsure where he should begin there was at first some awkward silence. Gabriel did not understand himself anymore. This would not be the first time that he would tell someone about his species. Lily looked at him expectantly and finally Gabriel decided to say something.

"What do you want to know?" Gabriel shook his head mentally at himself. What made him that question? It was not a matter of what she wanted to know, but what she had to know.

"Well, so ... I actually only know about vampires, from what I have read in books and seen in mov... I know from books," Lily corrected herself quickly.

She knew it from books? Books about vampires? Gabriel could not help but ask himself again what her time looked like. He quickly pushed aside his curiosity, not to ask a question about her time and he knew that Lily would answer. He did not know what was written in those books about vampires. How could he? So he could not respond to Lily's statement very much.

"What's that?"

Lily bit on her lower lip and seemed to think hard or to weigh what she could tell him. Finally she took a deep breath and said: "Actually, in almost every book the description of vampires is different. But in most of them it is written that a vampire cannot go into sunlight, because they would go up in flames." Lily paused and looked inquiringly to Gabriel, who had a grin on his lips. "And apparently that's not true because I've seen you in the sunlight without burning up in flames."

"No, we do not go up in flames. The sunlight weakens us, however." Gabriel said in explanation.

"I think," Lily went on confidently, "that the stories of garlic and the cross aren't right, either."

Gabriel nodded and waited almost excited to see what question she would ask next. "What about the wooden stake? Is it true that you can kill a vampire if you ram a wooden stake into his heart?"

"No. It does not kill a vampire. It only paralyzes us and while we're on the subject. You can kill a vampire by decapitation, with silver or with fire." Lily looked at him with understanding, but then furrowed her brow quizzically.

"With silver?"

"We are allergic to silver. When we touch it, it causes a burning pain and if we get a lot of silver in our blood system, we can die."

Knowledge and a sense of guilt appeared on Lily's face. Gabriel didn't understood her reaction, but he did not have to wait in the dark very long.

"Oh ... Azrael is also a vampire, right?" She did not wait for Gabriel to give her a confirmation, but continued. "I had asked Azrael to hold the necklace that I gave Catharina briefly, so I could put my things back in the closet. He had not looked at me, but only stretched out his hand. And he when cursed, I then turned around and the necklace was on the floor. It is made of silver."

Gabriel nodded understandingly and she really seemed to be remorseful. She could not know what would happen and she had not done it intentionally. Azrael should have looked. But Gabriel knew that Azrael trusted Lily and thought of her as a close friend. This confidence was shown by the fact that he had put out his hand blindly. Gabriel was sure that he wasn´t angry with her. On the one hand, he seemed to have so much life experience and knowledge, but on the other hand, he was so young and naive, that Gabriel often forgot.

"Later I should apologize to him ..." she added softly. Again, spread an unpleasant silence.

Lily finally broke the silence in which she asked a new question.  
"Um ... So ... what about the blood ... um ... where do you get it..." Lily said uncertainly, and had lowered her gaze to her hands.

Quite bluntly Gabriel told the truth. "We either take it or it is voluntarily provided to us. There are so-called blood donors who give us their blood voluntarily. In most cases they are women."

Again understanding appeared on Lily's face. "So these people, who live in this wing of the castle are those blood donors?"

"Not all of them."

"Honestly, I do not understand why they do it voluntarily. It has to hurt." Lily's face twisted painfully at the thought.

"It can hurt. It depends on the nature of the bite."

"There are different ways?" Even Lily's curiosity was aroused again. Gabriel had to smile slightly.

"Yes, there are. Actually it is painful only if it is intended to be, during a fight or as punishment. And then there are still several pain-free bites."

"And that would be?" Lily had to ask immediately.  
Gabriel took a deep breath. He was not sure whether he should tell everything to Lily.

"So, there is a bite, which feels relatively neutral. And then there are still several bites that feel good for the donor."

"How good?"

That was clear. How should Gabriel explain it to her? Thoughtfully, he looked at her and wondered how he could describe it. It would be easier if he would know whether she had ever had sex, but that he was unsure because she was not married. And he did not know how she would react to the topic. Over time this subject had gone through changes and it was no longer possible to openly and honestly talk about it. The church tried more and more, to present sex as sin and it should only be there for reproduction.

"Well, I'm not sure how to explain it to you," Gabriel confessed. Hopefully Lily didn´t get the idea that he should show her. Because that he could not do. First, he couldn´t, no, he didn´t want to demonstrate to her, how good a bite could feel and secondly, she was a Valkyrie, and it was forbidden for vampires to drink their blood without their consent. Well, he would certainly ask for her consent, but no, it wasn´t a good idea. Gabriel did not know exactly why he struggled so much against the idea of drinking her blood ...

"Well, the best way is to explain it by a comparison," Lily helped him and he breathed in relief, because apparently she did not want a demonstration.

"Yes, but I do not know if the comparison will help you understand. Not every bite feels like this, but you can still compare some with the feelings you have during sex." Now it was out there and he shook his head mentally at himself. Why did he only have such a problem talking with Lily openly about this?

"Okay ... then I also understand why there are volunteers," Lily said with a grin on her face. "And what other abilities does a vampire have?"

Gabriel looked at her thoughtfully, thinking what he should tell her. Should he tell her what he could do or what any vampire could?

"Vampires are fast, have very great strength, can smell very w..."

"How do you become a vampire?" Lily interrupted him curiously.  
Gabriel had to laugh. He could not be mad about the fact that she had just interrupted him so abruptly. During the last few weeks he had known Lily, he knew that she could just not hold back her curiosity.

"If a vampire sucks out most of a human's blood and he is on the verge of death, the vampire gives him his blood. But not everyone survives the transformation, or can be changed." This last sentence Gabriel had to say, because it related to Lily.

"Why not?" Immediately came Lily's question.

"There are several reasons which I cannot tell you. Not yet." Gabriel knew very well that he had made her even more curious with his statement and she would try to figure it out.

"Why not now?" Lily looked at him closely and inquisitively. It was clear that she would ask. But Gabriel shook his head.

Lily put her head thoughtfully to one side and then asked something that Gabriel had not expected. "How old are you?"

Actually, Gabriel revealed his true age reluctantly and he could have just told her, but he did not want to snub Lily, so he tried to evade her question with a question and put on his impish grin. "How old are you?"

"I thought it was be rude if you answer a question with another question," Lily countered immediately with a smile on her lips.

Gabriel did not respond to her, but changed his question to something different, without thinking that he had set a trap for Lily, which she would answer without thinking. "When were you born?"

Lily looked at him thoughtfully and replied. "I was born in '85." At first Gabriel frowned confusion wrinkled his forehead. What did she mean by 85, but then it occurred to him. Either Lily had left out intentionally the century or out of habit, but her reaction said him it was the latter. Shocked by herself Lily had placed her hand over her mouth.

"Lily, I'm sorry. I have not thought about it. I was not allowed to ask you the question and it hasn´t answered my question, either. I still do not know how old you are."

"All right," Lily said accepting the apology and then asked puzzled, "why don´t you know now how old I am?"

"Because I do not know what year you have started the journey into the past."

"Yes, sometimes this time travel story is confusing. But as luck has it, it seems to be the same time interval. I'm 22 and I will be 23 in December."

Gabriel hoped she had forgotten her question about his age, but she had not.

"And how old are you now? You know now, after all, how old I am," Lily said defiantly.

Gabriel said evasively: "What do you think?" Lily then looked at him closely. "I do not know. I've always been bad at guessing ... After your appearance, I would say mid 20s? But you have to be older ... "

"Okay, then I'm 25," Gabriel said with a broad grin.

"You will not tell me how old you really are, right?" Lily said thoughtfully, and then added a promise, "but I'll figure it out."

Again, silence spread. Gabriel felt that he should really get some sleep. It had to be almost noon.

"Lily, I'd love to talk more with you, but I'm really tired and should sleep now."

Lily looked at him with understanding, got up from her chair and walked to the door. When she touched the door handle, she turned around, however, and looked at him with a questioning expression. "What were those laws of which you spoke, when the three vampires ..." Lily stopped mid-sentence. Gabriel remembered that he had in fact forgotten actually an important, very important thing to tell her.

"Well, first of all, it would be really important that you tell no one who we really are. Our first law is that we keep our existence as a secret."

Lily frowned confused. "But it seems that everyone knows that vampires exist."

"They actually only know the myth and not reality. These vampires who have killed these two men have violated our laws, as they have left behind evidence of our existence."

"Well, it is not prohibited for vampires to kill people?" Lily concluded and Gabriel nodded. "Then which law did these three vampires violate? They didn't leave me as dead evidence" Lily said with some slight contempt in her voice. Gabriel knew that it wasn´t for him, but the fact that vampires were able to kill people with impunity.

"It is forbidden for vampires to drink the blood of Valkyries without their consent or to hurt them." 


	15. An Unusual Visit

_**Hi my dear readers! Here is the next chapter. Thanks for all your reviews. It´s so great to learn about what you think of it so let me know what you think of this chapter.**_

_**Translated: Cleo28**_

_**Beta: Moonjat54 (Thank you so much for helping me, Jat. Feel hugged)**_

_**Enjoy reading!**_

**An unusual visit**

Jack strolled through the corridors of the castle brooding, without having a definite goal in mind. When he needed to think about something, it helped him if he moved. Somehow he had to find a way to talk quietly and alone with Lily about her terrible experiences and help her to deal with it. This way she could adjust to all of this and not react overreact letting the small things put her in a state of shock or cause a panic attack. But how? She still resisted vehemently talking to him about it or confronting herself with it. It would be easier if Gabriel and Azrael could talk to her about it, too but it wasn´t possible. She would reveal too much of her own time ...

Jack took a deep breath. At least she had received the news well, that vampires really exist. After she had calmed down, she could not wait to learn more about vampires. Jack's lips twisted slightly into a small smile. Now she had to believe him that Valkyries exist, she had to believe it.

It was really a relief for Jack, that Walter had left the castle in the early hours of the morning. Usually every day the castle guard gave Jack a kind of moral lesson that he had to listen to through and Jack could not stand these sermons any longer. Walter constantly pointed it out that he shouldn´t give Lily so many privileges and that he only did it because Lily had allegedly pulled him under her spell. Walter was convinced that all Valkyries were nothing more than witches, ultimately bewitching men with their black magic to gain advantage or simply because they were evil. What nonsense! This man was so blinded by hatred of everything that did not fit in his perfect religious world that he was demonizing anything and anyone that, as he called it, was not a devout Christian. He still assumed that neither Jack nor Lily were Christians and that had to remain so, because otherwise there would be no stopping Walter, from delivering Lily to the Inquisition. But they were not Christians in his eyes, so he needed proof of any wrong doing. He needed proof that Lily was in league with the devil and he was downright obsessed by them. Jack had become aware of that when Walter had looked at Lily with this hate-filled, but also almost triumphant expression as he had demanded to see Lily's wrists. Jack was sure that Walter expected to find bite marks of a vampire there. Perhaps it would be better if Jack and Lily would leave this castle. But where they should go? Jack knew that Gabriel and Azrael both would protect them during their stay here, but the two were also powerless to oppose the Inquisition. They would only put themselves in danger.

Jack had now reached a door that led to the outside. He opened it and stepped into the hot midday sun. Jack had to squint just to get used to the bright sunlight, because inside the castle it was much darker. Where there were windows in the halls, they let only a bit light inside. He walked to the edge of the wall, leaning on his elbows on the top of it and let his eyes glide across the landscape. His eye was drawn to the little grove. Something moved in the shade of the trees. Jack could not see exactly what and concentrated on the movements. Suddenly Catharina stepped out of the shadows, looked around for someone and then waved. Moments later, a boy popped out of the bushes. Jack guessed him to be sixteen, from this distance it was hard to say. He took Catharina's hand, said something and then disappeared. However, he did not go towards the road that was parallel to the river, but went in the opposite direction.

Just when the boy was out of sight, Jack heard hooves and voices from the courtyard. He pushed away from the castle wall, and walked the few steps to the other side to see what was going on in the castle courtyard. Walter was back and Jack sighed. He had not gotten a long enough of a break from Walter and the man was not alone. With him has arrived a magnificent coach, drawn by two brown horses. Jack watched the scene as Walter got off his horse, shouted commands through the area and went to the door of the carriage and opened it, stepping aside and bent slightly. Jack had to catch his breath when he saw that a bishop got out of the coach. What did this mean? Was this clergyman here because of Lily or because of Agatha's murdered husband? Jack had to find it out as quickly as possible.

He almost fell through the door and ran down the stairs. When he had reached the end, he stopped briefly to bring his breathing under control. He was badly out of breath, and he couldn´t face Walter and this bishop like this. He had to make a good impression and not act as if the visit of a bishop caused him to panic, that would only arouse suspicion.

Jack could hear the castle guard inviting the bishop into the great hall. Seconds later, Johann, who Jack would describe as a butler, hurried past him and shouted to him: "Jack, You and Lilian must come join Walter in the great hall. We have an important visitor. The Bishop of Minden has just arrived."

Jack looked after Johann, who had disappeared into the corridor that led to Gabriel's chambers. Jack breathed in relief thinking Gabriel would be present, they would have a friend on their side. Jack was about to turn his gaze away from the corridor and go look for Lily, when she appeared in the hallway. First, Jack was a bit confused and did not believe his eyes. What was Lily doing there? But in the next moment he realized that she probably could no longer hold back her curiosity, and had probably talked to Gabriel. He would have liked to have been at the talk to see her reactions.

Now there were only two things left to deal with. She had to deal with her traumatic experiences and Jack had to explain her exactly what a Valkyrie is. He was sure that she would not dismiss the Order and Valkyries as fantasies now.

Jack stepped a bit closer to Lily. "Have you talked to Gabriel?" Lily nodded and a smile appeared on her face. Apparently the conversation had gone well.

"I still have so many questions," the statement burst eagerly from Lily. Jack had to smile. He did like this curiosity of Lily. Even if he hadn´t had it easy with Lily when she had not believed him in the beginning, he was glad to have her as his. When he had learned that Lilian Vanadis would be his protégé, he didn´t know at first what to say. Never before had men in his family had the destiny to be guardians of a Vanadis. A Vanadis! He was incredibly proud, but also felt fear, fear of not being up to the task. He had also feared that she would not accept him fully as her guardian because of his roots. He couldn´t imagine in a his wildest dreams that they would be friends.

Lily was very different than what he had heard about the Vanadis and experienced. Jack had met Lily's grandmother during his training as a guardian. For her there was only black or white and no shades of gray in between. She kept scrupulously to the laws and expected it from any other member of the Order. She seemed cold and emotionless. She was an authority within the Order and no one contradicted her. When Jack's service has started years ago, he had met her father, Alexander. Jack has been surprised that Alexander was the exact opposite of his mother. Although he had an aura, which conveyed authority, it came across in a nice and friendly way. The welfare of his daughter was very important to him and he had also explained that Lily neither knew anything about her origins nor of the Order and it should remain so. Jack had always wondered why Alexander had decided this, because the family Vanadis was a special family within the Order and all the other members of this family knew it. And there was also something else that Jack did not understand, in truth Alexander Vanadis had to be the head of the Order and not Anna.

Jack was torn from his memories, when Lily pushed him lightly on the shoulder and said, "Hey, ... Earth to Jack ...are you all right?" Jack had not noticed that Lily had spoken to him. Apologetically, he replied: "Yes, sure. ... ... Um ... what did you say?"

Lily grinned at him with amusement. "Johann said we have an important visitor. Do you know who has arrived?"

Lily's question to Jack catapulted him back into the here and now. He had completely forgotten, that a bishop was in the adjoining room. "Yes, the Bishop of Minden is here. He is in the great hall with Walter."

Lily's smile suddenly turned into a serious and worried face. "A bishop?" she asked worried. "What is he doing here?"

"I do not know, Lily."

"We should find out as quickly as possible," Gabriel's voice came from the stairs and when he came to them, he continued: "It is unusual for a bishop to show up unannounced."

"He came along with Walter," Jack said.

"Well, that's probably not so unusual. So Walter has brought him," Gabriel replied upset and cold. Jack knew that his anger was not meant for him or Lily, but for Walter. The castle guard had not previously informed Gabriel that he would bring an important visitor with him. After all, Gabriel was the castle lord. "We should go inside."

But before they could follow Gabriel's request, Lily said confused, "How do you behave towards a bishop? How do we address him?" Jack didn´t know himself exactly how to behave towards a bishop in the Middle Ages. Surely with a lot of respect and certainly with submission. Fortunately, Gabriel helped him.

"Well, you both should wait until the bishop speaks to you. Reply to him succinctly. And use the address "Your Excellency". I will go in first, and you follow me."

Jack and Lily nodded. Silently they entered the great hall. Jack had sweaty hands and hoped fervently that this bishop was not here to take Lily. No, that would definitely change things.

The bishop stood in his splendid robe next to Walter and had just welcomed Catharina, who seemed not to feel comfortable to be in the presence of the bishop. Jack remembered back on what he had just seen and wondered who this boy was who Catharina had met secretly.

The bishop, who had more a physique of a knight was aware of them and his gaze was directed at them. Gabriel welcomed the bishop politely. "Your Excellency! Welcome to my castle Everstein. What do I owe the honor to receive You as a guest? " It did not escape Jack that Gabriel threw an angry look over to Walter.

The Bishop put on a smile and replied: "Count of Everstein, it is my honor to meet You at last. I'm doing a tour of my diocese. As luck would have it, I was staying in town and this morning I met Your castle guard, who told me about the devilish activities in this area. And when he told me that You are here right now, I decided to visit You on an impulse. I apologize for my spontaneous, unannounced appearance, but I'm not long in my office and of course want to know all nobles in my diocese."

Jack saw how Walter looked with surprise at Gabriel and his chin went actually down a bit when he learned that his lord was not just any feudal lord, but had the status of a count. Jack could not help but to study the bishop closely. Something inside him told him that something was wrong with the bishop and he had to be on guard. Goose bumps formed on Jack's skin and he had the feeling to push Lily protectively behind his back. He pulled himself together, however, and fought against this feeling.

Before Gabriel could reply, Walter spoke to Gabriel, without allowing himself to show his ignorance of Gabriel´s real status. "Highness, I have already arranged that something will be provided to eat," Gabriel nodded understandingly to Walter, and as if on cue Agatha came in the great hall, bowed briefly and went to the big table, to put the plates there. Shortly after Johann followed her, who arranged more things on the table.

Jack's eyes went back to the bishop, who looked at him curiously. Gabriel went to Jack's side and introduced Jack to the bishop. "Your Excellency, may I introduce to You my guest and friend, Jack, Sir of Paladin?"

Jack had to suppress a grin. Gabriel had just presented him as a nobleman. Walter, who pressed his lips together angrily, had only presented he and Lily by their first names to Gabriel, later Jack had told him his last name. And his last name told Gabriel more about him. He was very pleased to meet a Paladin. Lily's last name he had concealed, because Gabriel was surprised and astonished enough, that Lily was ignorant of her origins, if he knew that she was a Vanadis, he would demand an explanation from Jack. But how could he explain it to him, he didn´t know all the answers. What should he do now? Under what name he should introduce Lily to the bishop? Was Lilian enough?

"Jack, it's an honor to meet a friend of the Count," the priest replied, and looked at Jack invitingly. He certainly expected that Jack would introduce her, because she stood next to him. Jack had tried to think in the past few weeks several ways to explain to Gabriel that Lily was a Vanadis. His senses told him that Gabriel should know, but was now the right time? No, not in the presence of this bishop it wasn't.

Jack looked first to the bishop and as he introduced her, his gaze wandered to Lily. "Your Excellency, may I introduce to You my ward Lilian?"

The bishop came up to Lily, smiled at her and said to her in a tone that Jack did not like and wasn´t proper for a bishop: "My child, it is my honor to meet such a beautiful lady." Jack had to pull himself together in order not to step between Lily and the bishop. At the same time Jack saw how swiftly anger appeared on Lily's face. She certainly didn't like that he had called her child and how he spoke to her, but she tried not to let it show. Inwardly, she surely boiled with anger.

Fortunately, Gabriel distracted the unpleasant man from Lily. "Your Excellency, if it is not too much to ask, I would like to know Your name."

The Bishop turned back to Gabriel and replied with an arrogant smile on his lips: "But of course, Your Highness. My name is Heinrich II, Bishop of Minden."

Jack grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her gently a little closer to him to put more distance between Lily and the bishop. Jack did not know why his protective instinct was activated. It was clear that the bishop was not here because of her and that no danger threatened them. Just something about this bishop had raised concern, but Jack could not see what it was.

Jack's attention turned to the castle guard, who cleared his throat before he spoke in an arrogant way, directing his gaze at Gabriel, although he spoke to Jack, said: "Jack, forgive my interference, but You have not given Lilian's full name to the bishop and I see it as my duty to make up for this omission."

Jack was boiling inside. How dare this castellan interfer? This was something that did not concern him at all. At the same time Jack knew that not only did Walter want to rebuke Jack, he also wanted to demonstrate his power, in fact he wanted to embarrass Gabriel. Because Walter did not know Gabriel very well so now he had to show the Count that Walter knew a detail about Lily that he did not know. And what Walter also intended, was to drive a wedge between Jack and Gabriel, because Jack knew that Walter was displeased with that Jack and his lord and he got along so well.

The castle guard inserted a small theatrical pause, but not long enough so that anyone could stop him, and while Jack frantically tried to think of how he could stop him, Walter ignored him and looking at the the bishop, he continued: "Your Excellency, her name is Lilian Vanadis."

Jack could not help but to curse Walter inwardly. That bastard! Jack threw an apologetic look towards Gabriel's direction. He could see by Gabriel's face that Walter would be displeased that his lord did not show the desired reaction that the castle guard had hoped to gain. When Gabriel looked at Jack, he did give him a surprising response, his eyebrows wandered questioningly at each other, but there was no reproach in his eyes. Finally, Gabriel turned back to the bishop.

"Your Excellency, You must be hungry after this long trip. We should sit down at the dinner table."

Gabriel was at the head of the table and the Bishop sat down at the right hand of Gabriel. The castle guard took the honored place next to the priest. Catharina was silent as always in the presence of Walter and sat down next to her father. Two other plates were opposite the bishop and the castle guard. Jack was not sure what would be proper, how they should sit among the others. Should he sit across from the bishop or should Lily?

Quite unexpectedly, he suddenly heard Gabriel's voice in his head. He had heard of vampires, who had reached a certain age, had this ability and he as a guardian was in a position to communicate this way when a vampire spoke to him in this way. He could not trigger it, however.

'Jack, let Lily sit next to me. I know that you do not like this bishop and you prefer that Lily be as far away as possible from his presence.' Jack was slightly surprised by this unusual communication and Gabriel's knowledge about his opinion of this bishop, but without asking further questions, he told Lily to take the seat next to Gabriel.

When all were seated at the table, after the bishop had said a prayer, everybody took some of the unusually generous meal at lunchtime. Usually at noon there was only bread with cheese or maybe smoked sausage, but this time in addition to the aforementioned dishes were also fruit and chicken on the table. Agatha and Johann poured wine. Jack looked over at Lily, who avoided looking directly at the bishop. Clearly she was not comfortable in his presence.

"Please excuse, this meager meal, Your Excellency," the castle guard said apologetically to the bishop, whose attention was directed at his neighbor. The response from the bishop Jack didn´t hear, because Gabriel said something to him, without raising his voice. 'Why didn´t you tell me that Lily is a Vanadis?' Jack looked inquiringly over to Gabriel. It was for him an unusual situation. He just did not know how to reply Gabriel. Should he just think it? Or was there a trick to this? Jack knew that vampires had previously practiced with the guardians this type of communication, but now it was only mentioned briefly. You were put in a position to be able to follow both a vampire on this mental path and at the same time understand other conversations.

Then he heard in his head. 'Just think it.' Just think it sounded so easy. 'You were so surprised that Lily knew nothing about her origin and I thought it was better then, if you do not know that she is a Vanadis. You would have demanded an explanation. I wanted to tell you, but Walter ... ' Jack stopped his thought.

'Yes, Walter, who only makes trouble.' Jack could hear in his head. 'And you're right. I want to have an explanation now. Why does a Vanadis know nothing about her origin and why don´t you know how to communicate this way?'

Jack took a deep breath and then built a response in his mind. 'I do not know the reason why Lily did not know anything about it. Her father told me then that she does not know and should never learn. I asked him about the reason, but he gave me no answer. To your second question: We do not learn it anymore during our training as a guardian.'

Gabriel seemed to be thinking about his answer, and Jack turned his attention back to the other people at the table. He noted that the bishop and Walter were deep in conversation and Lily smiled at Catharina, who responded to her. Jack grabbed his cup and took a gulp of wine.

After Jack had set his cup down, he heard Gabriel's voice again. 'Okay, where Lily is concerned, we will both get no answer. But why don´t the guardians learn it anymore? That does not make sense. Are there no vampires who want to practice it with you? Or is it another reason?'

Now Jack was facing a dilemma. On the one hand, he wanted to explain it to Gabriel, but then again he could not, and apparently it did not occur to Gabriel that he just broke the rules by asking Jack a question about the future. 'Gabriel, you´re aware of that I am not really allowed to answer your question,' Jack replied, waiting for Gabriel's response. A short but clear 'yes' came from Gabriel.

Without thinking any more about rules and laws, Jack gave Gabriel an answer. 'The Order has more or less no more contact with vampires. And until now it was no longer necessary for a guardian to be able to use this type of communication. My only job was it to protect Lily as a guardian angel without her knowing it.'

Short silence reigned in Jack's head. 'Jack, I think we'll have to talk about it later in more detail what you can and what you cannot.'

'Why?' Now it was Jack, to ask questions. What was that? Why did Gabriel want to know what he could do and what he could not do?

Jack could feel Gabriel's hesitation. He did not know how that was possible, because Gabriel seemed to follow excited the conversation between the bishop and Walter and contribute to it at times. Jack was fascinated by the fact that no one noticed that while he talked with him and to the others but it seemed not to notice that although there was something on Gabriel's plate, he didn´t touch it.  
Jack grabbed his cup of wine again and this time he wished that there would be something stronger in it. As he put the cup to his mouth and saw the bishop stuffing a piece of chicken with his greasy fingers into his mouth, Gabriel replied.

'Because I'll ask her if she will enter with me into the alliance Ehwaz. I think, no, I know that fate want to have it happen.'

Jack had just taken a sip of wine, which he now spit out surprised and shocked. Quickly he held his hand over his mouth. All turned their gaze on Jack, and looked at him quizzically. Quickly Jack muttered an apology and explained that he had choked. His gaze wandered from Lily, who looked at him anxiously, to Gabriel, who smiles easily, but also looked apologetically, for he knew that he had caused Jack's reaction.

In a few minutes everyone returned to their previous activity. Catharina dropped her gaze back on her plate, the two disagreeable men in front of him continued their conversation, and Gabriel called for Johann. Jack felt that Lily put her hand on his leg to get his attention undetected, which she received immediately. Barely audible she whispered to him: "Is everything okay with you? You seem so very distracted." In order to calm Lily, he smiled and nodded his head.

Jack's attention was directed to the bishop, who asked in a loud voice and a curious face, of Gabriel: "Your Highness, doesn´t your food taste good to You? You haven´t touched your plate at all."

Jack felt Lily's hand that still rested on his leg, tighten it's grip on his leg. He had difficulty ignoring the pain that her grip had caused and not to shout. He slowly closed his hand around Lily's wrist and raised her hand a little higher. He let out a sigh of relief when the pain subsided. Lily looked at him with an apologetic, but also very worried expression.

"Really?" Gabriel replied to the question. "I did not even notice. Just before I received the message that You arrived, I've already eaten. And so I am not really hungry."

It had been noticed that Gabriel had not eaten. But to Jack's surprise, Gabriel broke off a piece of bread, put it into his mouth, chewed and swallowed it. The bishop seemed to be reassured and gave his attention back to his own plate.

The castle guard also seemed to have something to say. Frowning, but also with an expression, confident of victory he announced the results of his activities in the city that morning. "Already two men have been killed by a Nachzehrer. And now I felt called to do something about it. I rode this morning to the city and have put together a squad who will hunt and find that demon tonight. To my surprise, two slayers were also in the city who are familiar with hunting for Nachzehrers and have agreed to help us."

Jack's first thought was that this was so typical of Walter. As far as Jack knew, Walter should have talked first with Gabriel before acting.  
Vampire slayers. Jack rummaged around in his head for what he knew about them. Among other things, Valkyries had also been known as vampire slayers and over the following centuries, had earned a bad reputation in the vampire society that was largely thanks to the Legion. Of course, the Legion, existed in the future. Jack knew that there were men in the past, who learned of the existence of vampires and became vampire slayers to earn their livelihood. They did not care whether the vampire was guilty or not. Their motto was: All vampires deserve death. Without doubt these were such men. These men could be dangerous because they didn´t usually ask questions and had developed a feel for recognizing vampires. Jack was torn from his thoughts, when Gabriel said something.

"Walter, I must say, You really are a very dedicated and helpful castellan. I don´t really know what I would do without You." Gabriel's voice was tinged with menace. An unequivocal threat that Walter should never again dare, planning and organizing such things without his knowledge and consent. Although Gabriel's words expressed one thing, his posture and his voice said something else. For the first time Walter didn´t seem so arrogant and he really did seem to have some fear of Gabriel.

"I am sure that the demonic problem will soon be done away with," the bishop said confidently, reaching for a strawberry, which he put in the mouth. Jack was surprised, as much as this bishop stuffed into himself, he should be really thick and fat.

After a brief period of silence, the bishop rose heavily from his chair. "It was a pleasure for me to meet You, but I must return to the city. Perhaps we will again have the opportunity to see each other again. Highness, thank you for Your hospitality."

Gabriel stood up. "You're welcome, Your Excellency."

Then the bishop turned his attention to Jack, he nodded and Jack returned the salute. Slowly the priest walked to Lily, took her hand and said: "It was an honor to meet You." Apparently, Jack was not the only one who disliked it when this bishop approached too close to Lily, because Gabriel stepped closer to the bishop to get his attention.

"Will You be staying longer in town?"

"Yes, I will," the priest replied to Gabriel's question and fortunately let go of Lily's hand.

Jack stepped closer to Lily, and saw how she was wiping her hand on her dress behind her back that had been grabbed by the greasy hands of the bishop. Jack knew just how Lily felt.

Walter went quickly to the bishop and escorted him out. Jack was relieved and dropped back in his chair and breathed deeply. With the disappearance of the bishop his protective instincts had disappeared. His eyes fell on Catharina. The bishop had not said goodbye to her. Probably it was because Catharina had been trying desperately to hide herself. Jack's eyes fell on the necklace that Lily had given her. Jack knew she was a Valkyrie too, only her father did everything to ignore this fact. Fortunately there were only Lily and Gabriel in this room and within earshot when Jack asked Catharina a question without thinking.

"Catharina, was the boy who you met with in the woods your guardian?"  
**  
**


	16. Conversations

_Hi my dear readers! Here is the next chapter. Jat, thanks so much for beta-reading. Feel hugged. A time ago a German reader of my fanfic asked me what Lily does if she gets her menstruation in the Middle Ages. I thought it was an interesting question and so I put it into this chapter. _

_Thanks for your reviews! It means a lot to a writer to know what the readers think of a chapter._

_Enjoy reading!_

_Translated: Cleo28_

_Beta: Moonjat54_

**Conversations**

Meanwhile it was already dark, when Lily went back to her room. She just came back from the medieval toilet and it was really inconvenient to walk through half the castle in order to relieve himself. And right now it bugged Lily a lot, because she had her time of the month. It already was a chore to get used to this primitive toilet but now she found it even harder.

After Jack had asked Catharina his surprising question, she had first reacted with shock and then panic broke over her face, so they had decided to discuss things privately tonight. Present at this meeting would be Gabriel, Azrael, Jack, Catharina and her mysterious friend. Lily did not know exactly about what would be talked about, but it would be interesting. Normally, Lily could not wait, only now she just did not feel good. She had abdominal pain and she would prefer to just crawl into her bed.

Lily closed the door behind her and saw the pack of tampons, which she had earlier placed on the small table. She went to the little table, took the package in her hand and looked into it. There were not many tampons anymore. It was a big pack, but the contents probably would be enough for two more months. If she was still here, what would she do then? What did women use in the Middle Ages, when they had their period?

Lily was torn from her thoughts, when there was a knock at the door. She simply put the pack back on the table, because she believed that it would be Jack. But it wasn't Jack who stood at the door but Catharina. The teenager smiled at her, but she seemed to be nervous. Hesitating and looking around in the corridor, she said: "Lily, could I maybe come in and tell You something?"

Lily stepped a little to the side and gestured for her to come in. After Catharina was in the room, Lily closed the door. Catharina turned to Lily. "Well, my mother and Ferdinand have told me much about the Order." Catharina paused. Apparently she did not know exactly how she should say it. Lily guessed that Ferdinand was probably her boyfriend, whom she met in secret. And according to Jack, he was probably her guardian.

"Ferdinand has told me that there have been more people killed by Nachzehrer and that yesterday a Valkyrie, her master and her guardian arrived in the city." The girl paused and looked at Lily intently. Lily only looked at her inquiringly. She did not quite understand why she wanted to talk to her about this alone. And what the hell was a master?

"The Valkyrie is a Vanadis ...", Catharina tried to help her to understand, but Lily had no idea what she was talking about. How could she? Catharina's look told her that she had said something specific and thus a different response was expected of her. Oh great, most likely she would now meet an ancestor, and while it made her a little curious about who she probably was, she just could not find a reason why Catharina was here in her room and wanted to talk to her privately about it.

"Okay, but why are you telling this to me in a private conversation, why not at the meeting with everybody?" Lily asked.

Catharina looked at her in confusion. Lily had the feeling that she knew more than her. It was not surprising, because she knew nothing about Valkyries. Jack had said she was a Valkyrie, and after what she had learned all in the recent weeks, she was finally convinced that there really were Valkyries. Suddenly Lily felt lost. She had always believed to know herself well and now she realized that there was still a part of herself which she did not know and which she had known nothing about. That scared her.

"Well, because ...", Catharina hesitated," ... Jack cannot be Your guardian. And I wanted to warn You." Lily thought she had misheard. What did she mean with it, Jack could not be her guardian? Of course he was! He had told her! She trusted him! He had not lied to her... or had he?

Perplex and with a stern voice, what Lily did not really intended, she said, "What? How do you figure? I want an explanation!"

Catharina seemed to feel uncomfortable in her skin, but that didn´t interested Lily. When she threw a statement like that at her, then she had a right to learn why the girl thought in that way.

She lowered her head intimidated and looked on her hands. Finally, she began with her explanation. "Perhaps I have misunderstood something. Ferdinand told me that it is exactly defined, which guardian a Valkyrie gets. He said that mine and his family would belong together. His full name is Ferdinand Paladin. And I told him about Jack, because I knew that Jack has the same last name. He did not know him, but he said that if he is a guardian, he would belong to his family." Catharina took a deep breath.

"I told him about You as well. I think I shouldn´t have done it. I could not help myself because You're always so nice to me and I like You." Catharina looked at Lily apologetically.  
"I still do not understand where the problem is," Lily replied, this time calm and friendly.

"I didn´t know Your last name and therefore I thought that You may belong to my family, because Jack is Your guardian. But You are a Vanadis." The last word she spoke with reverence.

Instead of the explanation Lily expected, she had the feeling that Catharina was beating about the bush. Until now Lily couldn´t see where the problem was. But perhaps she had already told her, only that she didn´t understand it because she had no idea what she was talking about. Maybe she should just tell her then she would surely explain it to her.

"Catharina, to be honest, I do not know anything about the Order or the Valkyries," Lily admitted and Catharina's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"But ...", she stammered, "but ... You are a Vanadis. You have to know everything." Again such a ridiculous emphasis on her last name. Lily shook her head.

"No, it was only after I met Jack that, I first heard of the Order."

Catharina let herself fall incredulously into the chair beside the little table. It took her a few minutes to digest Lily's confession. Lily sat down in the other chair that was on the other side of the table. Finally, she looked Lily into his eyes and continued with her explanation.

"So far as I know, all guardians of the Vanadis are from the family Hamingja." At the name Lily furrowed her brows thoughtfully. She had heard that name before, she just didn´t know in which context. "And if you would compare the structures in our Order with the society, then the Vanadis and Hamingja would be something like royalty. And a Vanadis would never accept a guardian from the lower classes ..." Catharina was interrupted by Lily.

"Royal families? What exactly do you mean?" Lily asked curiously.

"It is said that the Vanadis directly descended from the goddess Freya."

Lily did not want to think about whether all these gods really existed, surely there had been people who were revered as gods or something like that. Lily should have paid better attention in the school. She had heard of this goddess and she knew that Friday was named after her, but what type of goddess was she? It was weird that a fourteen years old girl explained this to her.

"And who was Freya? Well, what were her duties?" Lily asked, while she felt a little embarrassed.

Again two stunned eyes looked towards her. Apparently, she should know who Freya is.

"I thought you were heathen and know the Aesir and Vanir," Catharina said confused. Right! They believed that she would be pagan. In her head Lily made a note that Jack had to explain her the Nordic mythology. As Lily said nothing else, Catharina simply continued.

"Well, Freya is the goddess of love, fertility and marriage. But she is also the leader of the Valkyries."

"This is a funny combination. On the one hand, peaceful and on the other hand warlike," Lily commented.

Catharina grinned and said, slightly amused. "Yes, that's right."

Lily took a deep breath and briefly summarized what Catherine had told her. "Well, Jack might not actually be my guardian, because he is a Paladin and I´m a Vanadis, right?" Catharina nodded. "Perhaps it isn´t usual, but Jack is my guardian," Lily insisted. She was quite sure that it was so.

Before Lily could say anything else, Catharina spoke again. "I have heard that you were on the run and I thought You and Jack probably fled from the Order, because ... um ... because you might want to be together and the Order doesn´t permit it."

At first Lily didn´t exactly know what Catharina meant to say, but then it´s suddenly dawned on her. No, Jack and she were not lovers. He was her best friend and she had no romantic feelings for him. Now she understood why Catharina tried to warn her. There were others of the Order in the surrounding area and they were a threat to their hiding place, or so that was what Catharina thought. In order to deny Catharina's statement, Lily shook her head.

The girl let out a relieved breath and her eyes landed on the package of tampons and looked at it quizzically. "What's that?"  
What should Lily tell her now? She should have put the stupid package back in the closet before she had opened the door. But then why shouldn´t she tell her, maybe she would tell her casually, what she did when she had her time of the month and Lily would not look like she had asked a stupid question. An adult woman who did not know what she did when she had her menstruation that would be unique and conspicuous. A conversation among women about the monthly hygiene that could not be that bad.

Lily reached for the pack and pulled out a tampon. She held it high in the air that Catharina could see it and then said. "This is a tampon." Of course, it meant nothing to her and Lily had not expected it to. "You use tampons if you ...", Lily stopped briefly. How should she call it? "…if you get the woman's monthly bleeding."

Catharina looked inquiringly at the tampon in Lily's hand, but said nothing. Lily gave her the tampon in her hand, so that she could make a closer look at it. There wasn´t much to see with the small tampon, but Lily did not really know what to say or do now.

"How do you use it," she asked finally, and Lily was about to answer, when someone knocked at the door. This time, Lily took the pack and placed it in the closet before she went to the door.

It was Jack who looked at her inquiringly, sounding slightly disappointed when he said: "Did you forget, that we wanted to meet?"

"Sorry. Catharina and I were talking and forgot the time."

Jack looked at her with forgiveness. "Come on, we shouldn´t make the others wait any longer."

Jack led the way. Just before they reached the corridor that led to the room where she had received lessons on the subject Middle Ages, Catharina grabbed Lily by the arm and whispered: "Lily, do You have Your bleeding?" What brought on this question? What did that matter, whether she had it or did not? Lily nodded her head, frowning.

"Jack told me that You understand. We´re going to be with two Nachzehrers in the same room. You should sit as far away as possible from them." Catharina let go of her arm and followed Jack.

Lily stood rooted to the spot. Vampires drank blood and she had her days! Suddenly, she felt no longer well. She was sure that Gabriel and Azrael would not attack her, but Gabriel had told her he could smell very well and he could determine ... she did not want to think about it further, because it was very uncomfortable for her. Although she had no problem with God and the world knowing that she had her period, the thought that someone could smell it was something else entirely.

"Lily, are you coming," Jack said to her, and Lily took a deep breath before she went to the room.

When she entered the room everyone already sat on the table. Gabriel was sitting at the head of the table, where he always sat. Next to him sat Azrael and then it was Ferdinand, she suspected. Catharina sat down beside her guardian and Jack was sitting across from Ferdinand, who actually bore some resemblance to Jack. He had the same dark brown hair.

There were three seats available. Right next to Gabriel, where she usually always sat or, next to Jack on his right side and at the other end of the table. Where should she sit down now? Should she really sit down right next to Gabriel and opposite Azrael? Catharina said as far away as possible. But if she sat down at the other end of the table that would be noticeably obvious. She would sit right next to Jack, so she went to the chair that was standing to the right of Jack and sat down. She could feel how three people were looking inquiringly at her, but said nothing. She had directed her attention to Catharina.

"It is truly an honor to meet You, Lilian Vanadis", came the admiring statement that burst out of Catharina's guardian. Lily winced slightly, because she had not expected that.

She let her eyes slide to Ferdinand, a smile on her lips and answered him, "Ferdinand, right?" she waited long enough to get a confirmation and then continued when she received it. "I am honored to meet You as well. But call me simply Lily, please."

Ferdinand's eyes widened. He seemed surprised and Catharina leaned over to him and whispered to him: "I told you that she's nice."

Lily only listened partially to the others who were talking about the murders and also discussing the arrival of the Valkyrie, her master and guardian. Gabriel seemed to know them. Lily was too busy with her own thoughts to listen closely. Why did it bother her so much that Gabriel could smell it, that she had her days? It was not the first time that she had it since she was stuck here in the Middle Ages. And then she had been sitting next to Gabriel during class and he hadn´t said or done anything. He behaved as usual. Why should it be different now? Just because she now knew that he was a vampire? She was annoyed with herself that she had not sat down in her normal seat. Had she just fallen into the trap of preconceived prejudices? But on the other hand, she did not know anything about vampires and until now that had not been a problem. Why should it now become one? Without caring what the others were talking about and what it would look like, she got up and sat down in her usual place.

All fell silent and looked inquiringly, but also in confusion at Lily. Strangely, she felt better now when she sat between Gabriel and Jack. She raised her gaze straight ahead and met Azrael´s questioning look. She did not know where the conviction suddenly came from, but she was sure that Gabriel and Azrael would never do anything to her. She could trust both of them.

Lily tried to focus her concentration on the conversation. Who knows what she had all missed.

It seemed that Ferdinand had asked just a question of Jack. Jack turned his head inquiringly to Gabriel, who then nodded in agreement. He looked again to Ferdinand and answered his question. "Lily and I are destiny travelers." Lily turned around in surprise at Jack. As far as Lily knew, no one else should know this. She must have missed a lot.

"Lily," Gabriel said now to her, "we should not tell anyone that you are a Vanadis. When they hear Jack's name, they will assume that you are a Bonengel. We should let them believe that and introduce you with Bonengel."

Lily could imagine that it could certainly cause trouble after what Catharina had told her. Wait a moment! Bonengel? Anna's surname was Bonengel. Lily's eyes flew to Catharina. Anna had told her what her last name meant: good angel.

"Lily ..." Gabriel dragged her from her thoughts. What was wrong with her today?

"Sure," she replied, "that's no problem." And it was not really. She had planned a few weeks ago on picking a new name for this alleged witness protection program and now she would get one. Lilian Bonengel.

"I would not be so sure," Azrael had to state his misgivings.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"It would perhaps be better if we gave Jack a different last name," Azrael said, in answer to her question.

"Then we would have to change not only Jack's last name, but his first name, too. The Hamingjas only have first names beginning with A and we would also have to change Lily's first name, so it would not be noticed," Gabriel explained why he wanted to only change Lily's last name.

Lily didn´t have the foggiest idea what they were talking about. Probably it was because she had virtually unaware of the conversation earlier, and that made her angry with herself that she hadn't paid attention. But now, she jumped into the conversation between Gabriel and Azrael.

"Azrael, why is it a problem if my name is Bonengel and Gabriel, why would my first name attract attention?" Lily said firmly expecting an answer.

"Lily," Azrael began, "you would stand a few steps below Svafa Vanadis and I think that you won´t be able to handle it easily, she would bully you."

"Why should she bully me?"

"Lily, think of it as part of the social order," Jack helped Azrael.

"Okay, I see."

"Well, that would be only the case until you have a master," Gabriel added.

Lily had to speak urgently with Jack or Gabriel. She just had to know more about the Order. What the hell was a master? She knew what the word master meant, but a feeling told her that in this context meant something else. Her gaze was focused on Gabriel questioning, but she did not want to ask when everyone was present, it was getting embarrassing that she knew nothing about it and she could not blame Jack. She would not have listened anyway.

Gabriel grinned at her now, he did not move his lips, but she could hear his voice ... in her head? If she interpreted it correctly, how was that possible? Did she imagine it? 'You don´t know what a master is, right? And you don´t want to ask another question when all the others are here, right?' Lily did not know how to answer him, so she nodded her head slightly.

She could hear that the others were talking about something else. It concerned Walter and how they should explain Ferdinand's presence so, that he would not be suspicious.

'Just think your answer', she heard in her head now. 'Okay,' she answered him in her thoughts.

'I've tried before but you just ignored me. What´s wrong, Lily?'

'Can you read my mind? I mean always?' Lily asked the question that was embarrassing even in her thoughts.

'No, I can´t. I can only read what you want to tell me.'

'Good,' Lily said in relief. 'What is a master?'

'I think Jack and I should explain that later.'

'Okay', came from Lily.

'What is wrong with you, Lily? Why did you first sit down over there?' Gabriel wanted to know now.

Oh man, what should she tell him now, or rather, think? How should she explain it to him? Gabriel appeared to wait patiently for her response. Suddenly she noticed that Jack got up beside her and she turned around and then heard him saying with a sigh. "I'll distract Walter."

From the corner of her eye Lily saw, that Catharina was still sitting and playing with something in her hands. When Jack had left the room, she stood up, she let the object go quickly, which allowed it to roll across the table. The tampon. That would cause trouble, that she had not only shown Catharina an object from the future but also gave it to her. Lily heard Catharina cursing briefly. Lily followed the object with her eyes. Crap, if it were not wrapped, it would not roll all over the table. It rolled right up to her and Gabriel. When it reached her, she grabbed it and looked to Catharina, who looked at her apologetically. Lily nodded briefly and tried to get up also, but was grabbed by the arm.

"Lily, we have to discuss something," Gabriel said kindly.

After Gabriel had said that, it was not long before they were alone in the room. Lily had fallen back on her chair with a sigh. It would be the best to immediately confess her wrongdoing and apologize.

"I know I should not have shown or have given it to Catharina. I had not put it away because I thought that Jack was at the door. But it was Catharina and she wanted to tell me something important and I had invited her inside by then. She thought that Jack and I were lovers and because of that were on the run from the Order. I told her that's not true and then she saw the box and asked what it was and ..." Lily stopped because Gabriel slightly shook his head and grinned. "What?" Lily asked then.

"Nice of you to tell me, but I did not mean that. I wanted to know what was going on with you," Gabriel said, still grinning.

Lily bowed her head and began to play with the tampon in her hand. Finally, she laid it on the table and said: "I´m not feeling so good." This was not a lie, for she didn´t feel well. She had abdominal pain. She hoped that would suffice as an explanation.

Gabriel's grin off his face disappeared and was replaced by a worried expression.

"Are you sick?"

Lily turned her head to Gabriel and said irritably: "No." Somehow, Lily didn´t understand his question. Okay, if you're not feeling well, you were usually sick, but she could not imagine that women in the Middle Ages didn't also have abdominal pain. He had to know that she had her days and that she therefore didn´t feel well.

Gabriel looked thoughtfully at Lily and took a deep breath through his nose, then his eyes wandered to the little cotton thing wrapped in plastic and back to Lily. He grabbed the thing, shook his head and said more to himself than to her: "I had not really noticed." What should that mean, he had not noticed?

"Is it this thing what you´re not allowed to show and give Catharina?" Gabriel asked and held up the tampon.

Lily nodded and to justify herself, she said, "I thought it would not be so dramatic if I showed her and told her what it was and I was hoping that she then would tell me what she does when she has her time of the months, without having to ask directly, because my supply of these will not last forever."

Gabriel nodded understandingly and gave it back to her.

"I think this hard material, which is around it will be taken off, right?" Gabriel began and Lily nodded.

So it appeared that Lily would get a lesson on the monthly women hygiene from Gabriel. This could be interesting. But before he would tell her what the women in the Middle Ages did, she knew that he was also curious of what the tampon was, so she released it from the plastic and then declared: "I have no idea whether this material already exists. But the white is cotton. And when it comes into contact with liquid ...", she paused to pick up Jack's half-empty cup of red wine. How fitting, Lily thought and had to restrain herself from laughing. She held the tampon by the thread and let it down into the cup. And when she pulled out the soaked pad again, she said, "this happens."

"Something like that I've already assumed," Gabriel said, "and it also explains why the ..." he hesitated, his gaze remained on what Lily held, but before he could finish his sentence, Lily completed it. "Why you have not noticed it before now." Gabriel nodded.

"It was some time ago and as far as I know today women don't use it any longer, but there was something like this of cotton thing used earlier. Because the blood is collected in the body, the smell of blood is there, but not so strong."

"Why isn't it used anymore?" Lily just had to ask.

"Maybe the knowledge is lost."

"And when was that?"

"At the time of the Roman Empire."

"Okay, I can imagine. The Romans already had quite a few advanced things and stunning buildings. Rome is truly an impressive city," Lily said raving.

"You were in Rome?" Gabriel asked curiously.

"Yes, it was a few years ago. I was there with my parents," Lily said, and then continued curious, "And what do the women do today?"

"Nothing or they use towels of linen, which they put on themselves," Gabriel said to her easily.

"Nothing at all? But ...", Lily did not know what to say. The idea of her blood running down her legs, was simply disgusting. Then it would be clear that a vampire would immediately notice if a woman had her period. And probably they were so used to it that they had to "smell" more closely before they perceived it of Lily. It was certainly different in her time. Every vampire would probably recognize it immediately.

"Catharina told you that you should sit further away, right?" Gabriel said suddenly.

Lily nodded.

"Basically, she was right. You should not go in the direct vicinity of vampires, if you have your period."

"Well, shall I avoid you and Azrael over the next few days?" Lily asked, hoping that this would not be the case.

"No, you do not need to."

There were so many things that she wanted to know and now she had the chance to get answers to some questions. "Gabriel, do you know the Nordic mythology?"

"The what?" He asked. Damn, Lily thought, this had begun badly already, but perhaps it was also due to the terms she had used. But what should she call it otherwise?

"Catharina has told me something earlier about it and she thought that I would know, but I really do not know all these gods and goddesses. Although I have heard of them but this religion is really foreign to me. I even don´t know my own one so well." Lily tried again.

Gabriel looked at her frowning slightly. "What faith do you have?"

"I am a Protestant," Lily replied immediately and she could see in Gabriel's face that he didn´t know the word. Of course not, there were no Protestants in the Middle Ages. She quickly improved. "I´m a Christian."

"You are what?" Blurted it out from Gabriel surprised. "No one else must know this, Lily. When Walter finds out ..." Gabriel let the sentence unfinished. Lily could imagine, what would happen.

"I know," she sighed, "everyone thinks I am a heathen. Well, and to be honest ...", Lily paused. She was not sure if she could tell him. "... I believe in no God." Lily looked at Gabriel's face, but his facial expression did not betray what he thought of it.

Because he gave no reply, Lily continued explaining: "I think because people were not able to explain things, they thought , it must be gods who have created these things or why certain things happen. And many things can be explained quite easily. I'm also pretty sure that there is a scientific explanation of why vampires exist," Lily paused again and looked at Gabriel, who looked at her thoughtfully.

"Maybe not so much now anymore, but previously some people considered vampires to be gods because of their abilities."

Gabriel grinned and said amused: "So you think people might consider me to be a God?"

"Sure, earlier."

"Well, about which gods you want to know about?" And then said in amusement and with a wink, "Maybe I knew them and could give you insider knowledge."

"You do not need to make fun of me," Lily replied coolly and a bit hurt. She had tried to explain to him her view of things and he made fun of her. Being miffed she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her gaze from him away.

"I'm sorry, Lily. About what god you want to know things? "Gabriel said in a conciliatory tone.

Lily was silent. She was really mad at him.

Gabriel sighed. "I'm assuming that you mean the gods, with which the Valkyries have an attachment to. I really do not understand why your father did not tell you something of the gods. It was the least he could do."

Lily turned her head to the vampire and said upset: "Why should he do that? Why should he have to tell me something about any gods? Jack and Anna said that most members of the Order know nothing about it."

"That may be, but your father knew," Gabriel said quietly.  
Lily stared at him aghast. How did Gabriel know whether her father knew about the Order or didn´t. Jack! Jack must have told him something. But how did Jack know her father? How did Jack know, if her father knew about it or did not?

"You asked why you have to change your first name. As far as I know there are only a few names that the Vanadis give their children. The male first names are Alexander and Duncan and the female ones Gersimi, Cara and Svafa." he finally gave Lily his reply.

Lily took a deep breath. "My second first name is Cara. My parents told me that they have talked about it a long time, what name they would give me. They thought it should suit me well, because names have a meaning. So they called me Lilian Cara Vanadis. I think even more that my name is Lilian, because my mom loves lilies. She has just named me after a flower. Somewhere I read that Lilian can also mean "little one". And Cara, because it´s the name of my grandmother."

"There we have the typical first names. I had been wondering," Gabriel said, and then continued explaining, "The lily is not just a flower but also a symbol that can stand for different things. In the religion, you should actually belong to, because you are a Valkyrie, it symbolizes law and order. An appropriate name for a Valkyrie."

"Why is your name Gabriel?" Lily's curiosity had returned and had let her anger go up in smoke.

"I found the name quite fitting for me," he answered quickly, and then added more, "We need often to change our name so we don´t get noticed."

"You found it fitting to pick the name of an archangel, even though the people who rule around here would condemn you as a demon, and probably kill you, if they would learn that you're a vampire?"

Gabriel had to laugh and replied: "Yes, it does sound funny in itself, as you have said it."

"Have you not noticed this contradiction?" Lily had to ask.

"There is no contradiction, Lily. I am an archangel," Gabriel said seriously.

"You think you are an archangel," Lily asked to really be sure and Gabriel nodded convincingly.

Another question had formed in Lily's head. She determined Gabriel had already changed his name more often, so how long could you live among humans without being noticed, that one does not age? Maybe 10 or 15 years. Lily had no idea. He had given himself the name Gabriel.

"What is your real name? I mean, what name did your parents give you?" Lily asked her question.

"Come in," Gabriel said suddenly, and Lily could not remember having heard a knock.

Azrael came in and said right before he was really in the room. "Gabriel, I wanted to tell you that I am leaving now to look around."

Gabriel nodded and said warningly. "Azrael, beware of the vampire slayers." 


	17. Unexpected Help

_**Hi my dear readers! I´m back with a new chapter. Thanks for your reviews. Your feedback means a lot to me. I hope this time you will also let me know what you think of it.**_

_**Translated: Cleo28**_

_**Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thank you so much. Feel hugged.) **_

_**BTW I saw in the story traffic that also Germans read this story here. I also post this story in German, so if you want to read it in German. You can find it on **_

**Unexpected Help**

_The sun was shining on that Friday when Lily and her father reached the inner courtyard of a boarding-school. The building was impressive. For Lily it seemed huge and old. Curiously she looked around, but didn´t let go of his hand for a moment. She was a bit excited, because normally her father didn´t take her with him if he had to do things of his work. But today it was different. He had asked her to accompany him. She loved it spending time with her daddy. He was the best daddy in the world, of that Lily was sure. He was always there for her. He was her hero and guard._

_The inner courtyard seemed deserted, not a living soul for miles around. They followed a paved path on which to the right or the left side were either flowerbeds or lawns. Her father stopped in front of a piazza, on which stood tables and chairs. An old man sat on one of the chairs and got up when the two reached him. Lily had met this man a week ago the first time. It was her grandfather. First he greeted her father, then crouched down and greeted Lily with a smile. She liked her grandfather, he was nice. Finally he stood up. While the both men talked Lily moved her head between them back and forth. She didn´t understand what they were talking about completely._

_"Xander, I´m glad that you changed your mind and brought Lily", her grandfather said pleased._

_"Dad, I don´t know whether it will work. I…", Alexander fell silent._

_"It will work, Xander. Believe me. No one knows that you´re here with your daughter today."_

_"But if they see me together with her they will know." Alexander countered._

_"Yes, that´s true. Lily will stick out here and we won´t have much time", Duncan said and continued encouraging, "You know that it actually is fate that decides who should be her guardian and not the rules."_

_"Dad, these rules have existed forever." Alexander tried to express his doubts._

_"Yes, and it has often gone well, but not always. In all this time we have ignored fate", Duncan said emphatically and continued confident, "let´s see what will happen."_

_Her father nodded and took a deep breath then he crouched down in order that Lily didn´t have to look upward. With a smile he told her: "Lily, do you want to look around? I stay here on the piazza."_

_Lily was really curious and wanted to explore everything on her own, but she didn´t let go the hand of her father. She didn´t know whether it was the because of the conservation between her father and grandfather that she hesitated. What would happen?_

_Cheerfully Alexander said to his daughter: "I will stay here. I promise!" Tentatively Lily let go his hand. Usually he always told her that he would be immediately by her if something happened. But this time he didn´t. Why not?_

_Finally the curiosity won out and Lily ran off with a smile. After a few meters she turned around and saw that the two men had sat down and looked into the direction of the courtyard._

_Lily wandered through the inner courtyard which seemed to be huge. There were different ways which led to the several entrances of the building and in the middle of the garden all paths met each other. Here and there were benches next to the paths and an edge marked the waysides.  
Suddenly without any warning students stormed out of the building into the courtyard. Immediately Lily noticed that they were all boys and they were older than her. The teenagers who passed by her ignored her, no one took notice of her._

_Her father told her that they would go to a boarding-school and she had hoped to meet someone with whom she could play. But here were only older boys! A bit bored she stepped on the higher edge of the sideway and balanced on it._

Lily heard laughter behind her but before she could turn around someone bumped into her roughly and she lost her balance. And she fell off with her knees hitting the stones of the paved path. Lily cried out briefly because of pain, but held back her tears because she didn´t wanted to cry in front of the boys who were now apparently laughing at her.

Then Lily heard how a boy from another direction say, "Hey Hamingja, can´t you pay attention?" In the next moment Lily felt that someone grabbed her arm tenderly. Lily breathed in relief, her daddy was there. Her dad always came when she hurt. With tears in her eyes she turned around, but it wasn´t her daddy who smiled at her worriedly. It was a 15-years-old boy. Puzzled she looked around. Where was her daddy?

_"Is everything all right? Are you hurt?", the boy asked kindly._

_Lily only nodded and the boy helped her to stand up. "We should sit down on the bench and see what´s wrong with your knee."_

_Lily nodded again and let the nice boy lead her to the bench. She couldn´t move her knee without having pain. Lily didn´t know where it came from but she trusted this unfamiliar boy. It was a strange feeling._

_When Lily sat on the bench the boy rolled up Lily´s right trouser leg which had a hole where the knee was. "That looks bad. There will likely be a scar."_

_Blood ran down her leg from the deep wound. Lily clenched her teeth trying not to cry. After all she was ten years old and was no longer an infant. The nice boy took a packet of Kleenix out of his pocket and wiped the blood from Lily´s leg, but avoided touching her wound._

_"Where are your parents?"_

_Before Lily could answer, she saw that another boy stood behind her helper and said in a sarcastic and hurtful voice: "Well, Paladin, are you playing babysitter now? I think, kindergarten teacher would be the right job for you."_

_Lily directed her look at the boy in front of her. He gritted his teeth and seemed to want to say something, but didn´t do it. Laughing the other boy left them._

_"Is your name really Paladin?" Lily asked curiously._

_A smile was back on his lips and he answered: "That´s my surname. My name is Jack."_

_Lily returned his smile. "I´m Lily."_

_"Nice to meet you, Lily. Where are your parents?"_

_"My Dad is on the piazza."_

_Jack stood up, gave her his hand and said: "Then I should bring you to your dad."_

_Lily took Jack´s hand and let Jack help her from the bench. Silently they went to the piazza.  
Briefly before they reached it, Lily saw, that the mean boy, who had bumped her, who hadn´t apologized and was mean to Jack, was talking with her father. She didn´t like this boy. And she also didn´t like how polite and natural he talked with her dad. He should disappear again._

_"There you are, Lily", Alexander said and went to his daughter. "Does it hurt much?"_

_"It´s okay. Jack helped me!"_

_Alexander looked at Jack, gave him his hand and thanked the young man for his help._

_"You´re welcome, Mr. Vanadis", Jack gave back and said friendly goodbye to Lily, before he left. Lily didn´t want him to leave. Why did he leave?_

_Lily still looked to Jack when the despicable boy said something to her. "Lily, I´m so sorry, that I lost my balance when someone pushed me and caused you to fall off."_

_Slowly Lily turned around and looked angrily at him. His description was very different from what she had experienced. She didn´t see it, but she was sure that it had been different._

_"You can stick your apology where the sun…" Lily didn´t get further because her father interrupted her with a warning word._

_"Ansgar, it was nice to meet you. Give my greetings to your family. Lily and I have to leave now", Alexander said politely. After that Ansgar Hamingja said goodbye to Alexander and Duncan and turned to Lily and said: "We will see each other again, my little protégé."_

_Lily wasn´t able to stand this guy. And what did he mean with protégé?_

_"This Ansgar is rather arrogant and conceited. Lily will never be his protégé", Lily heard her grandfather saying. "We should keep an eye on Jack Paladin."_

With the first rays of sunshine Lily went outside to the courtyard. Aimlessly her way led her to the stable to Samru. She was the only one beside Gabriel who could get near the stallion without getting in danger. Thoughtfully she stood in front of Samru´s box, which was located in the front part of the stable and stroked the forehead of the horse. She didn´t know why she now remembered the first meeting with Jack. She had forgotten it completely. She also hadn´t remembered it when she met him again. Did Jack still recall it? Did he still remember their first meeting?

Now she understood the conversation between her father and grandfather. Her father hadn´t gone there because of his work, it had been about Lily. She was meant to find her guardian or he should find her. However. But why did they break with the tradition? Why did the two let fate decide and didn´t follow the rules? Lily was glad, that they didn´t do it. She would never have coped with that Ansgar. But nevertheless, why did they do it? Maybe Jack knew the answer. She should ask him and what was more important, she should thank him. Thank him, that he helped her back then.

She was just about to turn around and leave the stable when something fell loudly to the ground in the back part of the stable. She spun around quickly, shocked. Her heart automatically started to beat faster. Her mind told her to leave the stable as fast as possible, but her feelings told her, she should stay and look what was going on over there. Something was wrong.

She summoned up all her courage and asked with a firm voice: "Is there anybody?" Lily listened, but there was no answer. Perhaps only a pitch fork fell down. But a pitch fork didn´t fall on it's own. There must be a cause. If the stable lad was over there, he would have given an answer. Or was it a cat which was hunting a mouse and had knocked it over.

Lily took a deep breath and went slowly in the direction looking around, in which the noise had come from. A pitch fork leaned on a wooden pillar and Lily grabbed it. Maybe it was childish but without being armed she didn´t want to look further. Who knew what waited for her? Nervoulsly and with a trembling heart she got closer to the back part of the stable. On the left and right side were with wooden slats that separated the boxes, in which the horses were. Bales of straw and hay lay isolated on the ground. Lily held the pitch fork with the prongs forward, ready to keep an enemy in check.

Slowly she reached the last box, behind it was a large bunch of hay. A rustling made her pause. She directed her concentration on this sound. Without any notice a black cat jumped down from a beam and landed in front of Lily´s feet. In fright, Lily screamed shortly and cursed the cat breathlessly: "Stupid cat! Did you have to frighten me?" The cat started purring and cuddled against Lily´s leg. It expected that Lily would stroke it. Relieved and angry with herself that she reacted so because of a cat, she put the pitch fork against a pillar, knelt down and stroked the cat.

"You like that, right?" Lily told the cat while she tickled its neck. She liked cats. When she was a child she had had one.

After a while her gaze flew to the back entrance of the stable. Below lay straw like in the whole stable. But this straw was different. It was red colored. And a trail was drawn from the door to the bunch of hay. Lily swallowed. There was someone else with her in the stable and this person was injured. The stable lad had already fed the horses. He has just left the stable when Lily entered it. He would be at breakfast now. Lily´s heart continued to beat faster. Slowly she got up and ignored the moaning of the cat which apparently wanted more care from Lily.

She breathed deeply a few times to gather her courage. With wildly beating heart she put one foot in front of another to reach the other side of the bunch of hay. When she could look into the small niche which was behind the bunch of hay first she stood there rooted but in the next moment she hurried to the injured person who lay writhing in pain in the corner. His shirt was soaked with blood and ripped. She couldn´t see his face, but she knew who lay seriously injured in front of her. No other person here had this brown skin color, had this black hair. Azrael.

Kneeling in front of him she tried carefully not to cause him more pain as she turned him around so that she could see his face. His eyes were closed, hesitantly with deep breaths he said: "Lily … go…"

Lily´s voice shook as she started to contradict him. "No, Azrael. You need help."

This time with a strong, commanding voice and almost shouting Azrael said: "Lily, go! Damned! Go!"

At the same time he had opened his eyes. Lily was scared, not because he frightened her, but his eyes were yellow. Something was wrong with him. Why were his eyes yellow and why didn´t his wounds heal? He was a vampire. His wounds had to heal.

Ignoring his demand Lily asked a question. "Why didn´t you answer me?"

With clenched teeth he answered: "I didn't want you to come to me."

Lily let her gaze wander, searching over his body. On his left side something still was sticking out of his skin. The wound was covered with a lot of blood and as far as Lily could see, this thing was broken. Surely Azreal had tried to pull it out and broke it in the attempt. It had to be made of silver. This would explain Azrael´s condition. Gabriel told her they would have an allergic reaction to silver. This thing whatever it was, had to come out and quickly too. Apparently it was from an arrow or knife. Lily didn´t know much about weapons. Only how should she get it out? She looked around frantically. Here there was nothing that she could use and she also didn´t want to leave him to find a pliers or something else to use. Who knew who would come into the stable in the meantime?

Lily ignored Azraels continuing demands that she should go. Goodness! She wasn´t prim. She wasn´t one of these typical women, who found everything disgusting or started crying panic-stricken or fainted, only because they saw blood. It was important for her to do something here. She had to help her friend!

"Azrael, that's enough! I won´t go. I will stay here and help you", Lily said emphatically.

She had no other choice but to pull out this metal thing with her hand. This wouldn´t be easy and least of all for Azrael.

"Azarel, this thing must come out."

"I know. I already tried it, but I can´t really reach it", he replied hesitantly.

"It will hurt, when I pull it out. On three?" Azrael nodded and closed his eyes. Lily only hoped, that he wouldn´t scream loud and no one would pay attention to them. She took a deep breath, grabbed the metal piece with her hand, counted and pulled it out in one go. It was easier than she thought and when she saw the broken arrow head in her hand, she noticed, that it had a barbed end. It must have been terrible painful for Azrael, but she had heard nothing from him.

The wound didn´t stop bleeding and Azrael started shaking. Something was wrong. There were no other wounds and the silver was out of his body. What was wrong?

"Lily …. Thanks…. But you have to go now… go, please… I can´t..", he broke of hesitantly. Lily looked at him in concern. She worried so much about him. His irises were now a pale color and his fangs were seen. Suddenly the insight came to her. He needed blood! Of course! He was a vampire and vampires needed blood to survive. How could she be so stupid?

"You need blood", Lily said with an excited voice.

"Yes and because of that you have to leave", Azrael said with a firm tone, "I don´t want to hurt you."

"Azrael, you can have my blood. I know, you won´t hurt me", Lily replied.

"No, it won´t work. I just can´t drink your blood. You´re a Valkyrie."

"Why not? Is anything wrong with my blood?"

First Azrael looked at Lily puzzled, but then his expression changed. "No, with your blood everything is okay."

"Then there is no problem, with you drinking my blood."

"There is still a problem. My blood is on your hands and it mustn´t get into your blood system." Azrael was still putting up a fight.

Lily stood up and went resolutely to a bucket with water, which wasn´t far away standing near a box. She washed her hands and dried them on her dress, and while doing it she realized that on her dress were blood spots. Quickly she went back, raised her hands, so that Azrael could see them and knelt again down beside him. Azrael leaned now with his back against the wall.

"My hands are no any longer covered with blood. Now there is not a problem anymore."

"I can´t do this", Azrael said almost desperately. "Lily, go, please. Don´t make it harder than it already is." And more to himself than to Lily he whispered: "Gabriel will bite my head off."

"Well, how I see it, this is simple. You need blood and I have enough. When I donate blood I do it to help people", Lily stopped. Damn, she had betrayed again something from the future. But she hadn´t much time to be annoyed about her mistake. She had to convince Azrael that it was okay that he could drink her blood. Was it really okay? She was very frightened of needles and now she wanted a vampire with two sharp teeth to bite her… Quickly she put aside the thought. It wasn´t about her childish fear of needles, but to help a friend.

"Forget the last thing I said. I agree that you should bite me.." Lily didn´t feel very comfortable. Why did he make such a fuss?

Azrael seemed to think, because he didn´t say anything. Determinedly she stroked her hair from her neck and said in the meantime: "Azrael, sooner or later someone will appear in here."

Azrael grabbed Lily´s hand. "Are you sure?" Lily nodded and her heart beat faster. She couldn´t do anything against it. "Then I need your permission", he said almost absent-mindedly.

"But… but I already gave you my permission", Lily stammered puzzled.

"No, you said .. you agree", he said stuttering while shaking heavily. Why should that be? Gabriel had said something, it had been about Valkyries. She just knew so little about it. Wasn´t it the same if she agreed or gave her permission?

"Okay. I permit you to bite me." Whereby Lily enhanced the word permit.

"That´s not enough, Lily. I need to know where."

Lily suppressed an eye rolling. He must be joking. He still felt bad. The silver was out of his body, but he lost a lot of blood. And now it seemed he would feel better when he got blood.

Lily breathed deeply. "I permit you to bite into my neck."

Azrael actually started to laugh. She could not figure out what was so funny. And how could he laugh in this situation? She looked at him with angry eyes.

"Lily, I´m sorry. I haven´t thought about the fact that you don´t know this. Only your master has the right to bite you in your neck." Azrael closed his eyes and Lily´s worries were back. Then a master was a vampire, Lily interpreted from what he had said. She had to talk about it urgently.

"What then?" Lily asked worriedly. Azrael didn´t answer, but turned her hand which he had grabbed with the palm up. Lily understood immediately. Into the wrist. Now she also knew why Walter wanted to see her wrists and also the Legion in Los Angeles.

Lily had to clear her throat. "I permit you to bite into my wrist." Now Lily noticed that his right hand wasn´t covered with blood, but his left hand which was, he held far away from Lily.

Her heart began beating faster when he bent his head a bit and at the same time brought her hand nearer to his mouth. Lily closed her eyes and automatically she sank with her head on his shoulder. Azrael stroked her wrist tenderly and in the next moment she felt a sharp pain. Briefly she groaned in pain and then slowly the pain disappeared and it spread a pleasant feeling through her body. She felt each, single suction in which he drew the blood out of her veins. With each mouthful which Azrael drank she felt dizzier.

Suddenly Azrael stopped and looked around in alarm. Lily raised her head and looked at Azrael. His eyes had their normal color again and the wound seemed to heal. Lily wanted to say something but Azrael put his index finger on her mouth and shook his head. What was wrong suddenly?

Lily´s question was answered immediately when she heard Walter´s voice. This guy always seemed to appear, as if he could smell what they were doing. Now she heard Jack´s voice. It seemed that the two were talking in front of the entrance of the stable. A feeling told Lily that they would enter the stable any moment. And then? If Walter found Azrael and her covered with blood… no, she didn´t want to think about it further. She needed to think of something quickly. Azrael couldn´t go through the castle with his blood smeared shirt in the daylight. It would be noticed. And her dress was also bloodstained.

Determinedly but on shaky legs she stood up, went to the backdoor, opened it and said to Azrael: "I have an idea. But you have to hide behind the bunch of hay." Azrael looked at her questioningly, but didn´t ask only did what she asked of him.

Lily took hay and scattered it on her head. Then she brushed it through her loose, long, dark blond hair. Then she removed her dress. Since it had been so hot she hadn´t worn her under dress. She looked at Azrael who starred at her with wide opened eyes and whispered: "Lily, what do you do?"

Lily didn´t answer but took off her shoes, held the dress in front of her chest with one hand that no one could see anything and with her other hand she removed her bra. When she had removed it with some difficulty, she threw it to him. She looked down at herself to be sure that no blood was seen. Fortunately not. Now she also heard Gabriel´s voice.

With a wildly pounding heart and fighting against the feeling that she might faint, she went into the area in front of the opened backdoor and next to the pile of hay. Just in that moment, when Gabriel, Jack and Walter came in the stable, she was ready.

Walter had a fake smile in his lips, Jack looked at her in shock and Gabriel smiled at her as if he knew what really had happened. And apparently he did know.

Jack shook himself out of his immobility and looked at Gabriel briefly. Then he gave her a smile and breathed out in relief.

Walter was the first one who said something. His voice sounded effusively pleased: "Lilian, this I haven´t really expected from You that You would sin here in this stable."

Self-confident and raising her head Lily replied: "What You describe as sin is in my country no sin. I have adapted to Your traditions and customs and I think, now it´s time that You respect my traditions and customs."

"I can´t imagine, that it is something normal in Your country that an unmarried woman amuses herself with men", Walter said coolly.

"But it is", Lily answered back.

"Well, to punish You for this is the job of Your guardian", Walter looked at her sternly and meanwhile he seemed annoyed that he couldn´t punish her. "But the man doesn´t come from Your country."

Walter turned around and walked away with big strides to the door, but before he left the stable he turned around again and said: "Jack told me that there was a misunderstanding with your name. That Your name isn´t Lilian Vanadis."

Lily was sure he expected an answer. "Maybe You misunderstood me then. My name is Lilian Vanda Bonengel. And I didn´t give You my surname." It was so sudden that Lily couldn´t think of anything better to sound similar to her surname.

Walter rolled his eyes and left. Apparently he didn´t know the surname Bonengel, although his wife had had this surname, before she had married him. Maybe it wasn´t unusual because surnames weren't common in the Middle Ages.

"Jack, could you distract Walter?" Gabriel asked. Jack nodded, looked once again to Lily and left the stable.

"Azrael, you can come out of your hiding place", Gabriel said with a firm voice.

Hesitantly Azrael went to Gabriel. "Gabriel, I… I´m sorry… I didn´t want…", he said guiltily until Gabriel interrupted him. "We will talk later. In my saddlebag there must be a shirt."

Azrael gave Gabriel Lily's bra that was in his hand and went to the saddlebag, which was next to Samru´s box. He took it and removing his torn one and put on the new one, turned around briefly to Lily, gave her a thankful smile and left.

Now Lily was alone with Gabriel, who looked at her sternly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Actually I should be really angry with you. You can´t just give an injured vampire blood, Lily. It´s damn dangerous. And Azrael is young."

Awkwardly she looked back: "But nothing happened."

"No, because I told him it was enough." Lily was a bit puzzled. She hadn´t heard anything. Then she remembered this "mind reading" again.

"He would have stopped in time."

"Maybe", came from Gabriel now calmer.

Silence spread. Lily didn´t feel comfortable, standing half naked in front of him and he also held her bra in his hand.

"May I have my bra back?" Lily could barely speak and she noticed that she went red. Why did she always react so in his presence? A few minutes ago the stable was crowded with men and it hadn´t bothered her that she was undressed, only holding her dress in front of her.

"What do you want?" Gabriel asked in confusion and Lily pointed with one hand to her bra in Gabriel´s hand. She took care that her dress didn´t slip. He followed her finger with his eyes and looked at this unusual piece of clothing in his hand. It wasn´t the first time he had seen it. On Gabriel´s face appeared a mischievous grin when he looked again in her face. "You have put yourself into a delicate situation."

"I couldn´t think of something better so quickly to prevent Walter from seeing Azrael and the blood on my dress", Lily explained her situation.

"Honestly, it was clever, Lily, letting Walter believe that you had sex with a man in the hay." Gabriel stepped closer to Lily, raised his hand and pulled hay out of Lily´s hair. On the one hand she liked his gesture but on the other hand she didn´t feel comfortable. Her heart beat faster, but not because she had fear or it was unpleasant… And now he also had to look directly into her eyes.

The whole time she had fought against the feeling of dizziness but now it didn´t work any longer. She staggered and feared to lose her balance. But before her legs didn´t hold her anymore, she felt, how Gabriel´s arm slip around her waist and held her upright. In a reflex movement she had put her hands on his shoulders to hold herself upright. The dress fell on the ground.

"Are you dizzy?" Gabriel asked worried.

Lily could only nod. She was just too aware of the fact that she was almost naked beside her slip in Gabriel´s embrace. Still Gabriel looked into her eyes worried, but Lily was sure, that it wouldn´t remain so. He would look somewhere else. He was a man. What man wouldn´t do it? She felt again how the blood shot into her face.

"You should dress, then quickly go to your room and change into a clean dress. We will get visitors soon", Gabriel said with a husky voice.

Lily cleared her throat. "Who will visit us?"

Gabriel looked at her puzzled. "We talked about it yesterday. Svafa Vanadis, her guardian Albin Hamingja and her master Diann."

Lily missed a lot. But at the moment she couldn´t think about it. She had to find a way to dress without Gabriel watching her. Until now Gabriel hadn´t let wander his gaze down.

"Do you think you can stand alone again?" he asked.

Lily´s answer was that she let go his shoulders and in the same moment she felt that he withdrew his arm from her waist. She remained standing. No feeling of dizziness. But she didn´t count on him bending down and picking up her dress.

Rooted in place she stood in front of him and didn´t grab the dress which he wanted to give her when he straightened up again in front of her. She couldn´t understand her reaction herself.

On Gabriel´s face appeared a smile when he said: "Now I´m even with you." Lily knew exactly what he meant by that. She had seen him naked while swimming in the lake. Her face had to glow red again which annoyed her. She acted like a shy teenager. Angry of herself she grabbed the dress and put it on.  
When she wore her shoes again, she stormed out of the stable as fast as possible without saying a single word to Gabriel. 


	18. A Matter of Perspective

**Hi my dear readers! I´m back with a new chapter. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. **

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thank you so much. Feel hugged)**

**A matter of perspective**

As Gabriel walked into the room of his protégé, he saw him lying on his bed, deep in thought. In relation to his age it had been a very short time that Gabriel had known Azrael. Gabriel wasn´t his sire, but he felt responsible for him. He was his mentor. It was not easy for Azrael to be respected for himself in a primarily Christian Europe. His appearance didn´t hide his origins. And because of the Crusades, there was a great distrust toward him by the local population. Gabriel knew that it had impressed Azrael that Lily and Jack without prejudice immediately had fully accepted him as a human being and now were even friends.

Without saying a word, Gabriel sat down on a chair that was leaning against a wall. For a while there was silence in the small room, but it was finally broken by Azrael as he sighed with a deep breath. "Gabriel, I didn´t want to put Lily in danger. I told her that she should go ..." Azrael took a deep breath. "... but she just didn´t want to go. She can be so stubborn ... and then she had..." Azrael didn´t continue. Gabriel knew, even without further explanation, what happened.

"Azrael, I don´t think Lily's stubbornness made her decide to stay with you and help you. It was friendship." Gabriel replied sympathetically.

Azrael sat up and looked at Gabriel. "I haven´t only put her in danger through my stupidity, no, she also had to lie to protect me, and put herself in a delicate situation. Now everyone thinks she would get into bed with any man ...", it came out of him resignedly.

Gabriel leaned slightly and then said thoughtfully: "If you look at it closely, she didn´t lie, Azrael. She gave the impression that she had slept with a man, but she has not said it."

Azrael shook his head. "No, after Walter ..." Azrael didn´t get further, because Gabriel interrupted him.

"No, also then she didn´t lie. She told the truth. She has responded to Walter´s statement and she didn´t admit that she had sex. She implied it vaguely."

Gabriel could feel Azrael´s anger, raging at himself. "But it shouldn't have gone so far. I had ... I had ..."

"You must ask yourself now, what would you have done differently, it may help you in future decisions. But not what has happened. You cannot change the past, Azrael," Gabriel said firmly.  
Azrael jumped up from his bed and walked up and down his room in outrage. "I could not prevent it, that she had pain when I bit her and then I also allowed that she took off her clothes and performed this act, putting herself into a bad light." Guilty he looked at Gabriel.

Gabriel took a deep breath, got up, went to Azrael, and put a hand fatherly on his shoulder. "Azrael, it's true, you hurt her, but you couldn´t manage to do it in another way. You were too weak. And I'm damn sure she would do it again and again. No matter how painful it would be for her. You are her friend. And friendship means that you help each other and that you´re unselfish. Azrael, if you had used your skills, you would have felt that she has done everything because of the friendship she feels for you. She didn´t think of herself then. Your safety was her biggest priority." Azrael lowered his head.

"But I should have protected her and not the other way around."

"Why? Because she is a woman?"

Azrael gave Gabriel no answer. He took his silence as an affirmative answer. "Women are weaker than men, but that does not mean they cannot protect us, too. You have just experienced it."

With clenched teeth Azrael said angrily to himself: "Yes, now everyone will think she is a ..." He did not speak out the word. Gabriel looked at him closely. He knew that the friendship of Lily and also of Jack meant a lot to him. Faltering he continued: "And that's my fault. Jack will despise me that I let it happen."

Gabriel looked at him sympathetically. "Jack won´t despise you, Azrael."

Azrael made a joyless laugh. "Of course he will!"

Gabriel shook his head. "I don´t think so. He was shocked at first, as he witnessed Lily in such a situation, but I think it was more the fact that he had not expected it. When I told him that the appearance is different than what really happened, his whole focus was on Walter."

"Fine, but that does not change the facts," Azrael said bitterly.

"Azrael, you weren't born yesterday. Your knowledge and your gift of drawing the right conclusions quickly, now seem to have been lost by your anger, your guilt feelings."

Gabriel paused to give Azrael an opportunity to think about it. But he could feel that Azrael was still struggling with his feelings. Shaking his head, Azrael sank on a chair.  
"Azrael", Gabriel began to explain encouragingly, "Lily told the truth. And if you remember of some other situations, Jack has reacted differently than we had expected. He said himself that he has the same views as Lily and I think in this point, it is also the case."

Azrael looked at Gabriel. He took a deep breath. "Yes, you're right. I have asked myself many times, from what time the two come. They seem to have a very different world view." Azrael paused briefly, before he spoke further. "But I think that in this point it has changed nothing."

Gabriel took a deep breath. No matter what he would tell him now, he would not change his mind. Only Jack could do it. So he changed the subject and asked a much bigger question.

"Azrael, what did happen? Why did you come back hurt?"

"I do not know exactly ... I looked around in the area and suddenly these vampire slayers were there, as if they had expected me. Suddenly from all directions silver arrows came flying at me. One hit me and I left as quick as possible. Gabriel, you know that I usually don´t avoid a fight, but something told me that this was a trap. They were not hunting for any vampire that they randomly met. They have been waiting for me. It had been planned."

Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully. "Someone must know our true identity and gave this information to the vampire slayers. Otherwise it can´t be explained. But who?"

Lily was on her way to Jack when she heard voices in the great hall. She had been in the kitchen to satisfy her sudden hunger, which was probably caused by her blood loss, and automatically passed the great hall. She recognized the voices immediately. They were Jack and Walter. Usually she would leave, but this time she remained at the side door to the great hall, which was open a little. She knew that it was not nice to eavesdrop, but she couldn´t help doing it.

"Jack, You really have not had an easy time with Your protégé," Walter said in a sympathetic manner, which made Lily pause. "Your reaction earlier in the barn has shown me that You knew nothing of her sinful activities."  
Jack took an audible deep breath. "Walter, this is not Your business."

"No, it isn´t. But I know some rules of Your Order. My wife was a member of the Order and explained me some rules that You consider as laws. And because today we will be visited by a high-ranking person from Your Order, I think I should remind You that You have to punish Lily for her misdemeanor. It would really make a bad impression if it turns out that You are not able to carry out Your destiny as a guardian."

Again there was that typically nasty tone to Walter's voice. He took a short pause to give Jack time to think. Finally, he continued threateningly: "Otherwise, I feel obliged to report Lily's disobedience to the Order."

"You really want to threaten me, Walter?" Jack asked angrily. "However, Your threat won´t work. Lily has violated no law. So there is no reason to punish her or to notify the Order of it."  
Confident of victory Walter said assuredly to him: "Are You sure? Let's see what our guests will say." Lily could hear that Walter left the room.

Thoughtfully, she stood by the door. Against what law of the Order she might have violated? She should talk to Jack about it otherwise there could be big trouble later, but when she was about to go in to him, she heard Jack welcoming Azrael.

Hesitantly, he spoke with Jack. "Jack, I want to apologize to you and I understand it if you despise me for having allowed Lily to have put herself in such a situation." Why did Azrael apologize to Jack? Why should Jack despise him? What was going on here?

"Azrael, I don´t despise you and you do not need to apologize. Lily did it to protect you. And I do not want to imagine what would have happened if Walter had found you ..." Jack replied with understanding, but also thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Jack," Azrael said and Lily could hear relief in his voice. Silence spread.  
Azrael broke the silence by asking Jack concerned, "Jack, what's going on? Is anything wrong?"

It took a little while until Jack answered him. "We have a problem, Azrael. I do not know how well you know the laws of the Order, but Lily broke a law, and Walter has threatened me, he plans on telling our visitors about it later."

"Well, I do not know all the laws. Actually, only those ones which concern us," Azrael paused for a moment, "perhaps you should discuss it with Gabriel or with Lily right now, she is standing a while behind the door."

Surprised Lily winced. Azrael knew she was there. "Lily, come in," Jack said, without any accusation.

Hesitantly Lily entered the great hall. She had a guilty conscience that she had overheard Jack and that she caused him problems. She didn´t want to make Jack's life here in the Middle Ages harder, but apparently she made always one faux pas after another that Jack had to pay for. This had to stop!

"Jack, I'm sorry. I did not want to eavesdrop ... I only passed by on chance and ...", Lily was looking for an explanation.

"... and you were curious," Jack finished her sentence and smiled at her.

"Yes," Lily admitted and lowered her head slightly.

Jack went to Lily and took her hands, while he assured her, "Lily, I am not angry with you. This way I don't have to tell you everything again." Relieved Lily looked into Jack´s face. She didn´t want to put in no case their friendship on the line because of her curiosity. Jack meant too much as a friend to her.  
With a knowing smile, Jack continued: "Furthermore, without your curiosity, you would not be the Lily who I know, appreciate and like."

On Lily's lips appeared a smile. But as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared again. "Jack? What law have I broken?"

"Actually, it's a stupid law, Lily and it is unfortunately still relevant in our time," Jack began his explanation. Lily knew why he had begun in this way. Firstly, to tell her that he did not agree with the law, and secondly, to prepare her not to get angry.

Jack took a deep breath. "I had told you that the laws and rules of the Order have not been adjusted." Now, Lily had a feeling he was beating around the bush. Lily planned not to get angry.  
"As your guardian I have not only the duty to protect you, but I´m also responsible for you...", Jack took another deep breath before he continued," I have the guardianship in our time, too. Jack looked pointedly at Lily.

"Well, if the laws have not been changed, it is quite logical," Lily tried to convey to Jack that she would listen to him and would not explode angrily. She would listen to him objectively.  
Another deep breath from Jack. "As you know, a ward has to ask her guardian for permission for some matters." Lily nodded to let Jack know that she had not forgotten that.

"The Valkyries are allowed, unlike other women in the past to have an affair with a man either to marry or even without the intention to marry this man." Jack breathed deeply again. Lily was sure that it was not in the topic, but how she would react to what he would tell her next. Jack seemed to be looking for the right words, because he said nothing anymore.

"But?" Lily finally asked and her friendly and sympathetic face let Jack continue.

"A Valkyrie has to ask her guardian for permission and if he doesn´t agree the Valkyrie isn´t allowed to have this love affair." Well, Lily thought. Something like this she had expected and surprisingly she was not even angry. She had learned so much about the morals and laws of the Middle Ages in the past few weeks that she wasn´t surprised about that law of the Order. After all, the laws of the Order probably were even older and if she really looked at them Valkyries had more liberties than other women. But the next moment she realized that they were in a fix. She had fooled Walter into believing she had sex with a man and Jack's reaction had indicated that he did not know about it. And they could not put the matter right in front of Walter, because then ...

Lily didn´t get further with her consideration because Azrael interrupted her. "Jack, then it's not a problem, and Lily hasn´t violated a law. If Walter really makes his threat true, we will explain it Svafa, Albin and Diann without Walter´s presence and Diann will know that you two don´t lie."

Surprised and impressed Lily asked: "Vampires know if someone is lying?"

Azrael nodded and then added more explanatory. "If humans lie."

Lily looked to Jack, who still looked lost. "Azrael, I do not know if we have made this clear to you. If Svafa and Albin continue asking, of which I am sure that they will do , then we will need to still provide them with a reason, then ...", Jack said nothing more. Lily had actually broken the law. Not today, but earlier. Only that she knew nothing about it. How? And how did that saying go? Ignorance is no excuse.

"What do you mean?" Azrael asked Jack, but the question seemed more rhetorical.

"What I know about these interviews is that the Valkyrie is always asked if she is still a virgin. Depending on how the answer is and whether it is true, there are still a few more questions about it."  
Lily didn´t feel comfortable in her skin. She had already had an uncomfortable feeling about meeting her ancestor. They had to find a way out.

"Jack, when did you become my guardian?" Lily quickly asked her question, ignoring the fact that she had just cut off Azrael in his speech. Jack looked thoughtful at first, but then in understanding.

"At your 14th birthday", he gave her the answer and Lily looked at him in disappointment, not about the fact that he had become her guardian, but because they didn´t discuss this earlier. She had hoped that Jack had become her guardian later after she already had sex the first time. Jack shook his head resignedly.

"Wait a minute," Azrael said wanting to understand, "do you mean that Lily has really broken the law."

Jack and Lily nodded and she added: "But I knew nothing about it ..."

"I know," Azrael said understandingly, "you don´t know the laws of the Order and also didn´t know that you are a Valkyrie until a few months ago."

Azrael looked thoughtfully at Lily. He seemed to be searching for a solution. After a while he said: "Lily, do you see yourself as a young woman?"

Lily looked at him confused, but answered his question with "Yes".

Azrael nodded and then continued: "Actually, the word virgin means in these times a young woman who is not married yet, and thus presumably means she has not had sex. Lily, when they asked you this question then just think that virgin means nothing other than a young woman."

"That might work," Jack replied hopefully to Azrael´s statement.

"We should try it once," the young vampire said, and after a short pause, he asked Lily the question. "Lily, are you still a virgin?"

Lily thought hard about what had Azrael had said and tried to delete the real meaning of the word from her memory. Hopefully it would work, that the lie was like the truth. It was all a matter of perspective. If she understood the word virgin that it meant only young woman, she would not lie. She would tell the truth because she saw herself as a young woman.

"Yes," Lily answered a bit nervously his question. Azrael looked at her closely and took a deep breath through his nose. Then a smile appeared on Azrael´s face.

"It works and your little excitement can mean many things, but not that you're lying. You're excited because you are interviewed or because you feel uncomfortable because of the question. You have to forget, if this question is asked what the word could otherwise mean. And we should hope that they are satisfied and don´t ask further questions."

Johann came running excitedly into the great hall and announced: "Our visitors have just arrived. The castle guard has welcomed our guests already. I need to find the lord qiuckly." And with those last words he left the great hall again. 


	19. Meeting

**Hi my dear readers! I´m back with a new chapter. Betsal, thanks so much for your reviews. It´s great to learn what the readers think. Jat, thank you so much for beta-reading. You´re such a great help.**

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54**

**Meeting**

Gabriel was glad to greet his old friend Diann. The last time he saw him was when he agreed to the alliance with Svafa. Diann lived for the Order and the alliance Ehwaz. He said innumerable times that the protection of the vampire society and the Order of Valkyries was his profession. With the advance of Christianity and the increasing demonization of his species, the Valkyries and the Fylgjurs, Diann had created reforms which should protect them. Dead vampires and people who were killed by vampires should no longer be seen by the humans. He had built an organization existing of vampires, Valkyries and guardians who had the job to cover their tracks and to support the existing Ehwaz triumvirates which actually provided for obeying the law, took actions against violation of the laws and passed judgment.

With a smile on his lips Gabriel left the building through the great front door and welcomed his friend with an embrace. Walter was standing not far away and his smug smile gave Gabriel the feeling of dread. The castle guard was up to something again. Well, it was his job to welcome guests but somehow it upset him that Walter had welcomed his guests first and he had not been present.

Still while the two men hugged, Diann said in the frequency which humans couldn´t hear: 'Michael, I´m glad to see you again. And I have to tell you immediately that you have a very busy castle guard.'

'What do you mean?' Gabriel asked in surprise and cursed Walter inwardly. What did he say?

'Lilian seems to have violated a law', Diann gave a short explanation.

So Walter had nothing else to do than to tell his guests before they were properly welcomed about Lily´s suspected violation of the law. On the one hand it surprised Gabriel that Walter knew the laws of the Order but on the other hand he wasn´t completely surprised by his actions. He must be under the impression that Jack hadn't known anything about her actions and so Lily appeared to have violated a rule. What Walter didn´t know and what he also would never learn, was that Lily didn´t break a rule, on the contrary she followed a law, she protected Azrael.

'We will talk about it later', Gabriel answered back.

The men broke their embrace and Diann repeated the greeting for Walter to hear. "Gabriel, I´m glad to see you again. You sure already know Svafa and Albin." Diann gestured to the two persons, who were standing behind him. Of course Gabriel knew them.

Gabriel stepped a bit towards Svafa Vanadis and turned on his charm, when he welcomed the Valkyrie. Involuntary he searched for similarities with Lily. They had the same hair color, but otherwise they seemed to have nothing in common, at least in appearance. "Svafa, nice to meet you again."

Then Gabriel turned to Albin Hamingja and greeted him. After everybody had said their welcomes they went together into the castle. A bit later they were in the great hall. To Gabriel´s surprise Azrael, Lily and Jack were already in the room but what really caused him to wonder was that Azrael was standing in front of Lily protectively. Something was going on. However, they didn´t allow outside appearances to show anything was wrong, only because Gabriel knew these three so well did he recognize that they were tense.

Gabriel began to speak and introduced the newly arrived guests, then Azrael. Lily was introduced with her new name by him so that she didn´t have to say it herself and Diann would notice that she had lied. The last one was Jack. Catharina and Ferdinand would arrive later, when Walter wasn´t around anymore. In the view of the Order and the vampire society Ferdinand was Catharina´s guardian but in the human society it was still her father and he wouldn´t give over his guardianship of his daughter to the boy. Maybe they would find together a solution for this problem.

"Have a seat", Gabriel said to the others, gesturing graciously to the chairs.

Gabriel sat down in his seat. Diann took a seat opposite to Gabriel on the other end of the table. Svafa and Albin sat down on his right and left side.

Walter sat down to Gabriel´s left side, it was his right as his castle guard if they had visitors. Gabriel had expected that Lily, as usual, would sit next to him but she didn´t. Azrael took his seat next to him, followed by Lily and Jack. It was logical that Azrael was sitting next to him, after all, Gabriel was his mentor but he couldn´t prevent his disappointment that Lily wasn´t sitting there.

Of course, Walter had arranged that a meal was prepared. Agatha and Johann brought it now. Because Walter was sitting next to him, Gabriel had no other choice but to eat some of the delicious roast and the fresh baked bread to keep up appearances. Additionally, Agatha put fruit on the table. Johann poured the wine. It wasn´t so much that vampires couldn´t eat anything but more that they tasted nothing and their bodies couldn´t use it. In such moments Gabriel wished he could turn himself back into a human. But this wasn´t one of his abilities. So he took a little of everything but not a great amount. It wasn´t pleasant to vomit everything back up later, and the less the better. Azrael followed his example and also Diann took something from the offerings, although he wouldn´t eat any of it. They were sitting farther away from Walter and Svafa and Albin would also eat his food that was on his plate.

Suddenly Lily whispered something to Azrael, but said it loud enough that Walter could hear it, which surely was intended by her. "Azrael, if I know your customs and traditions of your country right, you don´t eat pork. And well, that piece roast which is on your plate is pork. I haven´t taken a piece yet and I have no objections if you give yours to me."

Azrael turned his head to Lily hence Gabriel couldn´t see his reaction but then he gave her his piece of meat. Gabriel´s gaze flew to Lily´s plate which now held only the piece of pork roast. Walter only smiled at Lily confident of victory and didn´t comment on it.

Silently they sat around the table and ate, the mood being influenced by Walter's presence, of course. At the moment when Gabriel finally decided to eat a strawberry which was lying on his plate, Lily suddenly spoke with him. "Stop!", she said as if he would poison himself when he put the strawberry into his mouth. Gabriel paused; holding the strawberry directly in front of his mouth. "There is a worm in the strawberry", she continued acting disgusted. Gabriel had to struggle to suppress his laughter. Lily was really imaginative.

"Really?", Gabriel asked in surprise and rolled the strawberry in his hand. "Indeed. Now my appetite is spoiled." And in mind he sent Lily a "Thank you" which she answered with a smile.

Johann poured wine in Walter´s cup and the attention of the castle guard was on Johann then when Lily took a slice of bread from Azrael´s plate and gave it Jack.

'Azrael, did you ask Lily to help us so that we need to eat nothing?', Gabriel asked the young vampire mentally. Gabriel searched for an explanation for why she did it.

'No, she did it by herself', Azrael answered.

She really decided to help them by herself. Gabriel had to admire Lily for doing it. She didn´t know much about vampires. After her experience at the forest Gabriel thought that she would draw back, but no, she wanted to know more about them. Actually he had to admit that Lily was really curious and eager to learn. But the fact that she helped Azrael so unselfishly and put herself in danger, had surprised him. She also took action to help when she found Azrael.

"Lilian, I heard that someone has accused you of violating the law", Svafa began in a confrontational tone. Apparently she wanted to eliminate this subject before they proceeded to the original reason of their visit. One thing concerned Gabriel, was why Svafa didn´t wait until Walter had left the room. This was a matter of the Order and normally they didn´t tolerate an outsider like Walter to be present. That Azrael and Gabriel were present was no problem because they could confirm if the defendant spoke the truth. Gabriel´s gaze wandered to Lily who breathed deeply and her whole body was tense. Slowly she turned her head to Svafa. Gabriel gave Agatha and Johann a sign with his hand and a nod to leave the room.

"The castle guard", Svafa continued and looked at Walter who gave her a pleased smile, "reported us that You had sex without the knowledge of your guardian. Who this man is, doesn´t play a role, but You should have asked your guardian for permission. I expect an explanation of why You broke our laws?"

Gabriel sighed with resignation. Now there was no possibility of sending Walter away for any reason. If he ordered him to leave now, Walter would demand to know why and he would get only more suspicious. And what Gabriel also disliked, was that Svafa looked at Lily as if she was guilty. Her choice of words and her tone made that clear. Actually in such situation it was always better to tell the truth but because Walter was present, Lily couldn´t tell the truth without breaking more laws and informing Walter that he was sitting in a room with vampires. Well, he could kill Walter, that would be a fast, uncomplicated way to get rid of him. Then the problems, which Walter had caused, would all be removed at once. But on the other hand Walter had influential friends in the town who would notice his disappearance and would investigate his death to find who was guilty of his death. That wasn´t good in this situation, not with a group of vampires causing trouble and the humans all ready frightened of them.

'Lie', Gabriel sent her a mental message. 'Svafa will learn from Diann, that you lie.'

Lily turned her head to Gabriel and in her gaze he could see nervousness, uneasiness and guilt. Guilt? Why did she feel guilty? She didn´t violated a law. Gabriel gave her a encouraging smile.

"I wait", Svafa said impatiently.

Lily turned back to Svafa and took a deep breath. Walter´s whole attention focused on Lily and he was certain of victory and the happy expression on his face upset Gabriel a lot.

"Gabriel, you can´t let this happen", Azrael said in his vampire voice pleadingly to Gabriel.

"I gave her the permission", Jack interrupted, before Lily could say a single word. That was a lie.

Gabriel didn´t need to look closely at his body language to recognize the lie. Diann would also know it… It was clear that Jack's statement wouldn´t hold up in this situation. If Lily had told her version of the events this morning and implied that she was lying to the others then they would come the conclusion that she hadn´t had sex with a man and the interview would continue without Walter. But now Jack had lied and created a reason for another interview. The judgment had been passed. And Svafa´s next comment let Gabriel know that Diann had told Svafa that Jack had lied.

"Really?", she asked provocatively.

Gabriel had to do something. In the human society it could bring death penalty but not within the Order. But she would punish Lily for disobedience of her guardian.

'Diann, Jack lied, but Lily didn´t break a law. You know how guardians react when it´s about their protégé. She let it appear like she had slept with a man because that way Walter didn´t discover Azrael who had been hurt by vampire slayers last night. She helped him'. Gabriel sent Diann a mental explanation, making the man look at him now.

'We will have to interview her, Michael. You know the way of our proceedings. And she had better not lie then", Diann said unequivocally. If there was something which you couldn´t compromise with Diann about, it was the laws. Of course he did happen to change laws for new circumstances. He supported it. Only the existing laws had to be followed in his view to maintain the health of the vampiric and Valkyrie society.

"Svafa, I think the accusation is over and we're done with that", Diann said unimpressed and Svafa looked at him puzzled, but after a few moments her expression changed to understanding. 

Walter didn´t reckon with this sudden acquittal and his expression turned into an ugly glare. Unexpectedly the castle guard stood up, apologized to the guests and left the great hall. Apparently it wasn´t possible for him not to show his disappointment.

`Lily, the interview will continue. Tell the truth. Only the truth'. Gabriel let her know in his mind and hoped urgently that she wouldn´t lie. Then he turned to Jack.

'Jack, why did you do that? It has to be clear to you that now this interview must go further. They will question Lily and you mustn't say anything, please', the old vampire said to Jack in explanation.

Without wasting another minute Svafa Vanadis, the head of the Order, continued with the interview. "Well, Lilian, then tell us what happened this morning."

Gabriel looked at Lily. She was excited and with a deep breath she tried to drive away her nervousness. Gabriel wished, that she wouldn´t be in this situation. It was Walter´s fault. Clearly he had to find a way to get rid of Walter.

"This morning I went into the stable to be alone and to think. I sometimes do it because mostly there is no one there. After a while I heard a noise and then I went to the back part of the stable. There I found Azrael injured. I helped him. And suddenly I heard Walter´s voice and I knew that he would come into the stable and I had to find an idea fast. My dress was covered with blood and Azrael´s clothes, too. So I opened the back door quickly, put hay into my hair and removed my dress and held it in front of my chest. I couldn´t think of anything else. But it worked. Walter left the stable without seeing Azrael. Unfortunately Walter saw Jack´s surprised expression…", Lily reported honestly.

Svafa looked briefly at Diann who said then: "She told the truth."

"Well, Lilian, you didn´t break a law but followed one", Svafa said neutrally. "But I still have to ask you a question. The way of this proceeding requires it."

Gabriel was relieved. Not much longer and this would be over. Gabriel knew which question would come now, but it shouldn´t be a problem. Only routine. Svafa would ask, Lily would answer it honestly and then it would be over… Suddenly Gabriel got a bad feeling. Jack had lied when he said he gave her his permission and the three were tense when he and the guests entered the room. Lily didn´t know that she was a Valkyrie until a few months ago and she didn´t know the laws… What if, she had relations before… Gabriel didn´t get further with his thoughts because Svafa asked her question now.

"Lilian, are you still a virgin?"

Without hestitantion and in no uncertain manner Lily answered with "Yes." Her answer surprised him. He had been sure that she wasn´t a virgin any longer. Not after that reaction which she did when he told her about the bites and compared it with sex. She seemed as if she knew about what he spoke and from experience and not just from hearing about it. What was wrong with him? Was he losing his sense of human reactions and their meaning?

"Okay, then we are ready to drop this and go on with our original purpose with being here", the Valkyrie said and gave her guardian her attention.

His gaze wandered to Azrael who unnecessarily breathed deeply, then to Lily who tried to avoid the eye contact and then to Jack who had closed his eyes in relief. Something was going on between these three. But it wasn´t the right time now to talk about it. And what concerned him most was that the three were so uncommunicative. They didn´t talk about the weather which had returned to normal and the unbearable heat had ended. All three were silent. It seemed they decided to say nothing rather than to say something wrong.

"Azrael", Diann said to the young vampire, "M… Gabriel told me that vampire slayers attacked you."

Azrael turned his head to Diann and told him what happened and his guess that it was a trap. During Azrael´s description Diann stood up and sat down next to Gabriel. Svafa and Albin also stood up and moved to sit down in front of Lily and Jack.

It didn´t take long and Catharina and her guardian Ferdinand entered the room. Ferdinand had moved in officially today and now belonged to Walter's rule as one of Gabriel´s subjects. Ferdiand knew Svafa, Albin and Diann, of course, so he greeted them and introduced them to his protégé. He had told them before, that there were problems with Catharina´s father who refused to acknowledge Catharina´s origin. Furthermore Gabriel had sent a messenger to Diann who gave him a letter in which he explained that the castle guard nor the most inhabitants of the castle knew his true identity and his name.

Thoughtfully Diann said his thought. "Why should the vampire slayers set a trap for you? Don´t misunderstand me. I think that it was a trap. But why for you? Barely no one knows that you are a vampire."

Sighing he answered: "I don´t know."

"We should forget the vampire slayers for the moment and discuss the reason why they have acted", Gabriel changed the topic.

Azrael and Diann nodded. "It looks like that it is a group which wants to get attention of the human society", Diann said in displeasure.

"Here we have two dead who were found by humans and three vampires attacked Lily", Gabriel informed the others.

"Are all three dead?", Diann asked hoping that maybe one of them was still alive to interview him. Gabriel nodded.

Those present divided in two groups. The Valkyries and guardians were one group and the vampires the other group. Gabriel overheard Lily saying that Svafa and Albin could call her by her nickname, when Diann said something again to Gabriel.

"We have to find out as fast as possible who is the leader of this group and take the right steps."

"I agree, Diann", Gabriel said, "but I think, that won´t work immediately. We have no clues."

"Then we have to find some quickly", Diann insisted.

Again Gabriel nodded agreeing and in this moment he realized that his short vacation was over. If he got his hands on the vampire who stole his vacation time, he would punish him severely.

"I think we need support. We three alone can´t search a huge area at night to find these vampires. I will send a messenger to some others", Gabriel said.

"I will send a messenger to Thiann", Diann announced and continued then, "if this matter is a bigger problem than what it seems, and this is not just small group of vampires who are revolting against the laws, will you inform Raphael then?"

"If it´s the case, yes", Gabriel confirmed. Gabriel caught Azrael´s eye that he didn´t join in the conversation. When this talk was finished, he had to talk to Azrael urgently and also with Lily and Jack. Something was wrong with these three.

Coincidentally the conversation of the others fell silent when Gabriel changed the topic and ask Diann of his new project.

"Diann, how is your new organization?"

On Diann´s face was a smile and he said enthusiastic: "Great. Really great. There is already one team."

"That´s great to hear, Diann. Do you already have a new name for this new organization?"

"Well, I think I will name this organization after their job. So I think the Latin term purgatorius would fit well. But for me I would use the English term. You know, how much I love my mother language. Gabriel, what do you think? Cleaner sounds great, doesn't it?" Diann answered his question with a smile.

"Diann, I just don´t know if this English term will become established. You know that everything now gets Latin terms", Svafa stated her opinion.

Surprisingly Jack joined in the conversation. "I think, Cleaner will establish itself very well." Diann's smile got wider and Gabriel knew that Jack didn´t just think it but he knew it.

"Look Svafa, there is someone who has the same opinion as me", he answered back and started laughing loudly.

Gabriel´s gaze fell on Lily who looked very depressed. She lowered her gaze and looked at her hands. Slowly she lifted her head and looked at Catharina and Ferdinand, then at Jack who gave her a friendly smile. He must have missed something. Gabriel directed all his senses on Lily. She was sad and she also felt guilty. But why?  
In the next moment she stood up. "Would you excuse me", she said quiet and without waiting for an answer she left the great hall. Jack looked behind her undecided, tapped his fingers on the table, looked briefly to Azrael and then followed his protégé out of the room. 


	20. Overreaction

_Hi my dear readers! I´m sorry that it took so long to post the next chapter. I hope you like it and let me know what you think of it. Thanks for your reviews!_

Translated: Cleo28  
Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thanks for your help.)

**Overreaction**

With tears in her eyes Lily ran along the corridor which led to her room. She pulled open the door, ran to the wardrobe and got out her bag. When she had put it on the table, she turned around and got her things which were still in the wardrobe and pushed them into her bag. She wouldn´t stay in this castle any minute longer. Not if Svafa Vanadis and Albin Hamingja were here.

She didn´t notice that Jack was standing in the door and watched her pack. When she flung her last piece of clothes into her bag and desperately tried to pull the zip which didn´t move a centimeter because the bag was too full, suddenly someone gently grabbed her hand and removed it from the bag. Lily lifted her gaze in shock and looked into Jack´s sympathetic face. Jack raised his other hand and wiped her tears off of her face.

In the next moment he pulled her close and hugged her. "Lily, I know it isn´t easy. But that isn´t a reason to pack your stuff and want to leave in a hurry", Jack said sympathetically, but also reproachfully.

Lily leaned her head against Jack´s chest and closed her eyes. It was almost scary how safe and secure she felt in his arms. Nothing could happen to her anymore. With Jack she was safe. He was her guardian. Her guardian angel. She trusted him. She could rely on him. This thought made Lily freeze with fear and she had a feeling of guilt. He couldn´t rely on her. She made one mistake after another. She not only got herself into trouble but also Jack. Why didn´t she just leave with Azrael through the back door of the stable rather than indulge in the play acting that caused such trouble? Every day Jack had to listen to the moralizing lectures of Walter, only because of her. He had to bear her moaning and her outbursts of rage when she got overly excited about something. And what did she do for him? Nothing. Jack would have an easier life without her.

Hot tears ran down her cheeks again and she couldn´t stop sobbing. Jack patted her comfortingly stroking her hair. Lily didn´t know how long they were standing together and how long she was crying. She just couldn´t stop. She let go of all her grief and concerns.

Suddenly she felt someone put his hand comfortingly on her back. She hadn't heard someone come in and it couldn´t be Jack´s hand. She didn´t want anyone other than Jack to see her crying like that and so she turned her face away and hid it in Jack´s shirt.

"Lily, what Svafa said to you, you shouldn´t take it to heart", said Azrael´s compassionate voice. Lily didn´t respond to his statement. Svafa was right. Jack would have a better life without her. She wasn´t good for him.

Azrael took a deep breath before he continued speaking further. "Svafa knows her social rank in the Order and freely states it to the other members of the Order. She´s not only head of the Order but also a true Valkyrie, although she has no right to treat other humans so concescendingly. And of course not you."

Lily didn´t answer him but clung tightly to Jack. She didn´t want to hear it. She didn´t care whether Svafa was the head of the Order or a true Valkyrie, whatever that meant. She didn´t want to have contact with her and her guardian. And because they would stay in the castle for an unknown time, she would leave.

Resignedly Azrael said: "We should have changed your name, Jack. Then Svafa wouldn´t have talked to Lily in this way…"

Lily felt that Jack took a deep breath. "I suppose you´re right."

With a broken voice, broken by sobs, Lily said: "No. That would have changed nothing… She is as cold and hard-hearted as my grandmother." Slowly she turned a tear-stained face to Azrael.

Azrael shook his head. "No, she wouldn´t have talked to a Vanadis that way in public."

"She would have done the same. She had also spoken so contemptuously about my name, if not worse. She would also have said that I´m a miserable Valkyrie and don´t deserve my guardian… She would have also told me that I don´t behave like a Vanadis and I am a disgrace to the family…", Lily said with a trembling voice.

Azrael could only speak the question "What?" Jack forced Lily to face him by laying his hands on her cheeks. "Lily, that´s not true. You´re not a disgrace to your family. And your grandmother had no right to tell you that. You´re not a miserable Valkyrie, Lily. You have all what a good Valkyrie needs. And if anyone of us doesn´t deserve something then it´s me. I never thought I would get you as my protégé. And for nothing in the world I would give you up as my protégé now. Don´t change, Lily!"

Lily´s heart took a leap of joy. Jack really liked her and his words felt so incredibly good. A timid smile appeared on Lily´s face.

"I`m really glad that your father chose me then", Jack added in a cheerful, relaxed way.

Lily gave him a smile, that he tried to cheer up her and to take away her sadness.

She took a deep breath. "Jack, fate chose you and not my father." Jack frowned puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Can you remember our first meeting, when I was ten years old?", Lily asked excitedly, because she hoped that he could remember it.

On Jack´s face appeared a smile and he nodded. Lily continued, "I absolutely had forgotten it. This morning when I was in the stable I suddenly remembered it. Then the conversation between my father and my grandfather made no sense for me, but now it did. They talked about how fate decided who would be my guardian…", Lily took a short break, "Jack, that day they brought me to the boarding school on purpose. I was supposed to find my guardian and then you found me." Lily looked at Jack and smiled gratefully when she continued: "Thanks Jack, for you helped me when I fell down."

Lily beamed at Jack in gratitude and she didn´t need to say that she was thankful that Jack was her guardian she could read it in Jack´s eyes that he knew it.

"I´ve never understood why the Order doesn´t let decide fate to bring together Valkyrie and guardian", Azrael said thoughtfully, "does it really work when they aren´t meant for each other?"

"What do you mean?", Lily asked in irritation.

"More or less", Jack started to answer the questions of Azrael and Lily, "A guardian and the Valkyrie have to improvise much more frequently because the guardian doesn´t know whether his protégé is in trouble."

"Well, it works but it requires much more effort and dedication of both", Azrael concluded.

Jack nodded and Lily looked inquiringly from one of them to the other. "And if fate decides?" Something told her that it would be different.

"It´s different. I know when you´re in trouble", Jack said.

"How do you know when you´re not here?"

Jack thought for a moment. "I can´t explain it exactly because I don´t even know how it works. I feel it when you´re in trouble. And depending on what kind of difficulties the feeling are weaker or stronger. This morning I had such a feeling, but… I really don´t know how to explain it… I knew that your life wasn´t in danger but that I should immediately go to you…"

Lily thought awhile about Jack´s words. She understood him, because sometimes she also had a feeling that she had to go to Jack quickly. Until now she had felt it most strongly when she had spoken with Gabriel the first time… And who knew if her presence hadn´t prevented any trouble because her feeling told her that it would cause trouble, but it didn´t happen. Perhaps she prevented it…

"I think I know what you mean, Jack. I know that feeling, but I can´t describe it exactly…", Lily said, still thinking.

"It means there is an invisible bond between a guardian and his Valkyrie, which binds them together and gives them the ability to know it if the other one needs help… I think that´s why guardians also called guardian angels. Guardian Angels know when they have to protect their protégé, if they have to intervene… They trust each other implicitly and they feel deep affection for each other which is far beyond a normal friendship", Azrael added his knowledge of the relationship between a Valkyrie and a guardian.

But somehow this whole "feeling thing" didn´t fit exactly, because Jack had been quite surprised and shocked when Lily came to him after the three vampires had attacked her. And then she had really been in danger. Was this bond useful when it didn´t work when she was in deadly trouble? If Lily understood it correctly, he hadn´t had this feeling. Surely he would have reacted differently. He would certainly have been on his way to her to protect her.

"Jack, did you have this feeling when I was attacked by those vampires?" Lily had to know.

He looked at her seriously and shook his head. "No, I didn´t."

Lily let out a mocking laugh and said, "This is stupid. For every little thing you´ll alarmed for me but if I´m in real, deadly trouble it doesn´t work?"

"Yes, you showed no reaction then", Azrael confirmed and then continued questioning. "But if it always works otherwise, why didn´t it work in that moment? That makes no sense…"

Jack sighed. "However, there is some sense to it. Fate didn´t want that I should rescue Lily, but someone else…"

"Well, then it makes sense. Jack you weren´t able to protect Lily from these three vampires. That´s for sure. But that you didn´t get a tiny warning that I find weird", the young vampire said curious to find an explanation.

Lily looked at Jack expectantly, but he said nothing. He probably didn´t even know the answer. That was Lily´s first thought. But his expression seemed more likely that he knew but didn´t want to answer.

"Unless…", Azrael began, who had apparently found an explanation but was interrupted by Jack who gave him a warning glance and with a shake of his head confirmed to Azrael that he shouldn´t go on.  
That Lily made really angry. Why didn´t Jack want Lily to learn what Azrael´s was, what could be the reason why fate had decided so? A few minutes ago she was about to leave this castle as quick as possible, but after talking with Azrael and Jack she had changed her mind. Two people who meant a lot to her, overturned her decision only by their presence and their words. And now these two have actually managed to make her angry at them. Again this secrecy. Surely it was enough. What was the problem?

Furious she glared at Jack. "Why don´t you want me to know Azrael´s idea?"

Jack seemed to balance his words. "Because I think you should first know and learn what it means before you learn the reason."

Lily knew she would get no response from Jack. Well, she could say that he should explain now everything, but she knew that it would take a long time. But now she wanted an answer! Jack told her that it would take time before she learned everything about the Order. And in this context he also said that he couldn´t explain it in five minutes and certainly not all at once. They wanted to begin tomorrow.

She raised her eyes to Azrael looking at him questioningly and he raised his hands defensively. "I don´t intervene." Surely it depended on this stupid deal, about which Azrael told her, when she had given him the silver necklace.

Well, if the two weren't going to say anything, she would get an answer elsewhere. After all Jack and Azrael weren´t the only persons who knew about this whole issue. It would be ridiculous if she wouldn´t find out.

"Good", she said in disappointment, got up determinedly, went to the door and turned around once more before she left her room, "when you don´t want to answer my question, I will find someone who will do it."

Behind her she could hear Jack call after her. "Lily, wait…" But she ignored it and went directly to the first person who she wanted to ask. Gabriel. He was certainly still in the great hall. In her head she formed a little explanation to make her question understandable. Gabriel hadn´t been present during their conversation, so she had to explain him briefly what it was about. As she turned into the passage leading to the great hall, she stopped abruptly. What if he was still talking to her ancestor and the others? What could she say when she walked in? She didn´t want to meet Svafa, let alone speak to her. In addition she shouldn´t know what question Lily had. But she wouldn´t turn around and she wouldn´t give in to this cold hearted and arrogant Valkyrie. Lily pulled herself together, straightened her shoulders and walked in. She would get an idea of what she could say.

It didn´t take long and she entered the large lobby. Outside it was dark now and a little light shone from the sky through the windows of the hall. No torches or candles burned. The room was empty. No soul was here anymore. And the plates and glasses were already cleared from the table as far as Lily could see. Well, the meeting was probably over for some time. So, where could Gabriel be? Hopefully he didn´t go to the lake, because there she couldn´t follow him alone. The risk of being caught was too great, not to mention that it was too dangerous. Maybe he was in the little room where they often met. Lily called it living room because it had the character of a living room. There weren´t a sofa and a TV inside. She wasn´t a couch potato but now and then she liked it watching movies and series. A wistful sigh escaped her when she thought of her living room.

When she reached the living room she knocked on the door politely. She didn´t want to burst in but there was no answer so she knocked again, this time a little louder. Again, no response. Because it was a common room, Lily opened the door. Just like in the great hall the room was dark and no one was there.

It seemed that Gabriel probably went to the lake. She could wait for him in the courtyard. He wouldn´t certainly stay there all night. So she went in the direction of the next door. Along the way she thought of that there were other options within the castle walls, where he could be. He could be in the barn or in the kitchen. No, he wasn´t surely in the kitchen. Or he could be in his room. Why didn´t she think of it first. Well, maybe because she had been there only once. She hadn´t often been in that part of the castle as there had been no previous occasions to go there. Gabriel and Azrael came to them so they didn´t go to that part of the castle.

She turned on her heels and headed to the north wing. Slightly out of breath she reached the end of the north stairs and stood in the hallway that led to the rooms. Which room was Azrael´s? Lily knew that only Gabriel, Azrael and the people who came with Gabriel lived here and she had had no contact with them. The chambers of Walter and Catharina were very close to her and Jack´s room and Ferdinand had now a room next to Jack. Where would the three guests stay? Diann probably would get a room in the north wing and the other two in her wing. The employees of the castle lived downstairs.

When she arrived at the position of the first door, it opened surprisingly and a young, beautiful woman with long brown hair came out laughing. She noticed Lily and smiled at her. "You have to be the new one. You are probably already looking for us. Now you found us." Lily frowned, staring in bewilderment at the woman. The new one?

"I see. You´re shy. But we will make it work." The woman said, grabbed Lily´s arm and pulled her into the room from which she just came. Lily was taken by surprise by this woman and allowed herself to be drawn into the room. Maybe she should say something, but she just did not know what. During the time she had been here, she had learned first to assess the situation and the people before she said anything. Normally Gabriel, Azrael and Jack introduced her…

She looked around in the room. It was furnished differently. There was something similar to sofas and on the table were jugs of wine, fruit and bread. The room looked really comfortable. And Lily recognized something else, the dress of the women was different. They were dressed in clothing that for the Middle Ages was really tight. Their dresses were long but they were cut very tight and they seemed to wear no undergarments, as far Lily could see. The women seemed to be enjoying themselves what Lily hadn´t seen often in this time. The women who Lily had met, worked all day and barely laughed. They looked like the typical women of the Middle Ages, which had nothing to laugh about and if there was something that gave them joy in their hard life, it has been demonized by the church.

The woman held Lily firmly by the hand and said something loudly to the others. "Hey girls, we have a newbie!" Now Lily was the center of attention of the others. A women with red hair went to Lily, looked at her up and down, turned around and asked: "What do you think? Whose type is she?"

Although Lily found her voice again she could only repeat the question. "Whose type?" What was going on here? Where had she landed?

"Let´s see", another woman said who was sitting further back on the sofa and then came to Lily. "Hard to say. We´ll see."

Lily took a deep breath, tore loose from the hand of the brown haired woman and said confidently: "Well, first, I´m not the new one and second what is this assessment all about?"

Now Lily had the full attention of the women and the laughter had died immediately. The woman, who had pulled her into the room, looked at her startled and said anxiously: "You´re not Grete, are you?"

Lily shook her head. "I´m really sorry. I … I have confused you. Normally no one else knows that we are here."

She was confused and apologized, but why she had such a fear? And not only her but also the other women. Lily looked closely at the woman next to her and then Lily was struck by something that caught her eye. The woman had two small red dots on her neck. They looked just like the marks on her wrist. Bite marks. These women are these blood donors of whom Gabriel had spoken. All at once Lily was aware of that they were afraid that Lily would betray them to the church.

"It´s all right", Lily said gently, "that can happen to anyone." She smiled kindly at the woman who seemed to have lost her fear, but she still looked suspicious. "I would say we should forget the whole thing as if nothing had happened."

The redhead nodded enthusiastically and smiled gratefully at Lily. "I will go now", Lily said, turned and left the room. When she had closed the door, she took a deep breath. This day she had discovered more by chance than what she had learned in recent weeks. Or it seemed so. She would think about these women later, now she wanted to have her answers.

Gabriel´s room was right at the end of the corridor and she ran straight toward it. Before she knocked, she repeated in her head again what she wanted to say. She knocked. There was no reaction. Damn, presumably he was at the lake. She would just turn around and go back when the door opened. Gabriel looked at her surprised and held the door partially shut behind him, so that Lily couldn´t look into the room. "Lily, has something happened?" He asked worriedly.

"No. Nothing happened." Why should it always be that something has happened? Was is so unusual that she would visit Gabriel without something happening?

"Okay, then what is going on?" 

"There is nothing going on", Lily said but Gabriel wasn´t apparently still convinced. "I´m here because I have a question."

"Can the answer wait or must it be answered now?" Gabriel said quickly and almost pleading that she didn´t need the answer immediately.

Strange. Gabriel had never said something like that to her before. Why… She didn´t need to form the question in her mind any longer, because now she noticed that Gabriel still held the door behind him, but had not closed it. She couldn´t look into the room. He seemed curt and what she had not noticed immediately was that he only wore his pants… She had actually just interrupted something…

"It can wait", Lily said quickly and while she turned around, a soft "Sorry" came from her lips.

With quick steps she walked down the hallway to the stairs. She wanted to leave this wing as quickly as possible. It wasn´t the first time she had disturbed someone during sex. Once she had disturbed her friend and at first she hadn´t noticed it but then she had started laughing and apologized for the disturbance. Weeks later she and her friend still amused about this unpleasant situation. At first such a situation is always a bit embarrassing, but then after a time it can be funny. But why she didn´t find it funny now? She didn´t feel this situation embarrassing. No, this situation had given her a stab in the heart. Gabriel was a friend, she should just react to it like to the situation with her other friend.

It seemed forever until she finally left the stairs behind her. Thoughtfully and with a still lasting pain in her chest she ran through the dark hallway which would bring her to her wing. Of course, Jack and Azrael had to come to meet her and say: "Why are you running through the whole castle?"

Apparently the two had followed her to try and discourage her from her plan. She didn´t want to talk to them. She wanted to be alone.

"Did you speak with Gabriel?" Jack had to ask now.

"Yes… um… I mean no. He had no time", Lily said hesitantly to Jack´s question, then breathed easier.

"He doesn´t have time?" Azrael had to dig deeper and his voice tinged with doubt.

And how could it be otherwise, at that moment, Walter had to come around the corner. Even though she was almost pleased to see him because it meant that she could disappear immediately and be alone. But that was pretty selfish to abandon Jack. Hopefully he didn´t want something from them, but only made a tour or something of that nature.

"Jack, I am pleased to find you", Walter said and Lily couldn´t resist a disappointed groan. Walter had obviously noticed and gave her a disrespectful glance. "I have something to discuss with you, Jack."

Lily could see that Jack wanted to do anything but to talk to the castle guard.

"Of course", Jack replied a bit irritated and followed the administrator of the castle into a room. Lily looked at the two until they were disappeared behind the door.

"Lily, why did he have no time?" Azrael wanted to know again. "He always has time for you", he added a moment later thoughtfully.

"He´s busy", Lily said quickly and went on her way to her room. Azrael didn´t follow her.

When she reached the stairs which led to her floor, she was suddenly grabbed by the arm. "Lily, wait! What did you want to ask me?"

Why was he here? Why was he running after her, when he should have been in his room with that woman? And Lily´s question wasn't so very important. Her initial desire for an immediate answer to the question was gone because of the embarrassment of what she had interrupted.

"Actually it isn´t so important", Lily said to him softly.

"Perhaps. It´s hard to say if I don´t know the question." The way he said it, she knew he had his charming smile on his lips. She would like to see it but she couldn´t turn around and face him. The sting in her heart was still there and it didn´t make it easier that he was now here and held her arm. She didn´t answer.

"Lily, what was wrong with you a moment ago? Why were you so sad?" Gabriel tried another question.

Lily took a deep breath, but didn´t answer him. Now in retrospect she overreacted. And surely she didn´t want to talk about it on the public stairs, where anyone could come at any moment. Gabriel apparently thought the same thing, because he suggested they go in her so-called living room.

It was only a few meters until they reached the room. Lily sat silently at her place and Gabriel on his one. Gabriel began to ask her something when Lily began to speak. "I have a guilty conscience about Jack. I always bring trouble upon myself and him and he always has to iron out it. It isn´t fair of me."

Gabriel thought for a moment and then replied gravely: "Lily, I believe, the most trouble you had in the past few weeks was, because you´re in a foreign time. Jack also had difficulties, but we have kept secret it from you. We should not have done that."

"You have what?", Lily asked upset and hurt.

Gabriel looked at her for forgiveness and Lily gave it to him surprisingly quickly. Maybe it was because he was honest.

"It´s not only that I come from a different time", Lily closed her eyes, "I don´t want to know how many laws of the Order I have broken and definitely one day they will come to light", she said in a trembling voice.

Gabriel gave her an encouraging smile. "Probably there aren´t that many, Lily. There is one law you haven´t even broken."

Gabriel hadn´t been there for their conversation and so he didn´t know that she had broken a law, and that Azrael had found a brilliant solution. Lily knew it had worked because she had been acquitted. But until now she hadn´t thought about the fact that Gabriel didn´t know the truth. She didn´t care that the others thought she would be still a virgin at 22 years. But Gabriel. Oh God was that embarrassing!

Almost whispering Lily confessed to Gabriel the truth: "I broke it. Even more than once. Before today I have never heard of this law and I know that Jack has no problem…"

"Wait", Gabriel interrupted her, "you have answered the question with yes and didn´t lie!"

"Yes, I have. And I have not lied, because I just imagined the term virgin as something else, namely a young woman. I see myself as a young woman, so it wasn´t a lie. Azrael had the idea. We had briefly talked about it, after Walter had threatened Jack."

First there was an understanding smile on Gabriel´s face, but then he asked incredulously: "Walter did what? He´ll pay for that!

Gabriel took a deep breath. „So, that is what you three were hiding. Actually, I had thought…"

"You thought we cooked up something?" Lily asked with a smile.

"Yes. All of you were so tense and said almost nothing."

The sting in her heart was gone and Lily enjoyed the time with Gabriel. Azrael was right, he always had time for her. But there were definitely moments where he had no time for his friends which was understandable. Had she misinterpreted it previously? Had it only looked like something? He couldn´t really leave in the middle, just to talk to her. She had indeed disturbed them, if it really was the case, but her question hadn´t been a reason not to continue. If something worse had happened, then yes… Did Gabriel have a girlfriend or even a wife? Did the term girlfriend even exist in the Middle Ages? Or was it rather called a mistress? Why did she think of it now? They were friends but because of that they didn´t need to know everything about the love lives of each other. Gabriel pulled Lily out of her thoughts.

"What did you want to ask me?"

Now she had indeed forgotten her question. It had to do something with fate… She only needed to remember the conversation with Jack and Azrael and it surely would come back.

"Um… first I have to explain you what we talked about." Lily said to gain time. And it wasn´t a lie because she actually had to explain it.

"What have you talked about?" Gabriel asked after a while because she didn´t say anything.

Now she remembered. "I told Jack that I remembered this morning our first meeting. I was ten years old and I didn´t understand what my father and grandfather were talking about. Well, long story short. My dad let fate decide who would be my guardian. And then Jack said something to Azrael and he said something about an invisible bond… This is all very confusing, right?"

"No, I know what you mean. You talk about how Jack can feel it when you get in trouble and the other way around." Gabriel helped her.

"Yes, exactly. Only there was one thing which let us wonder, when these three vampires attacked, Jack felt nothing. Jack seemed to have an answer for it and thought that fate would have it that someone else rescued me. And it seemed that he also had an answer why fate wanted it. Azrael wanted to announce his idea but Jack stopped him. So, do you know why Jack hasn´t had a tiny warning when I had a life-threatening problem?"

"Yes, I know", Gabriel replied to Lily´s question.

Now Lily was annoyed at herself. She should have asked the question in a different way. She had given him an opportunity to give a sufficient answer to her question without really answering.

"And why was it so? And don´t tell me I know too little about the Order!" Lily said seriously and even raised her index finger menacingly. Finally it was enough with these excuses. And Gabriel really started to grin…

"It has nothing to do with the Order, Lily. But I believe that Jack… He told you?" Gabriel looked inquiringly for a confirmation to Lily who nodded", "that he is right that you know too little."

Lily let out a resigned sigh. They agreed. Maybe she should asked Catharina or better Ferdinand.  
Lily stood up and said to him kindly: "Thank you for your time." She wanted to leave the room. She knew that it would have no sense to ask him further. So she had to find someone else.

"Lily, wait."

She paused in her movement. She expected that he wouldn´t answer the question but to explain why he couldn´t answer it…

"What did you think and feel when they attacked you?" Gabriel asked seriously.

Lily turned around confused. That wasn´t what Lily had expected. What brought about this question? Thoughtfully she went back to her chair. Gabriel still sat in his seat and looked at her encouragingly.

"Um… I was scared and I thought that I had no chance to escape." She replied to his strange question.

"That´s all?" 

"Of course not. But it sums it up pretty well. There was so much I didn´t still know…"

Gabriel looked at her thoughtfully. "You were not only afraid, but you were scared to death. This is a big difference. And of course you had pain and you were also worried…"

Lily stared amazed at Gabriel, but also impressed. He really knew how she felt. Could he always?

"Do you always know how people feel when you are near them?"

Gabriel nodded. "To whom did you think of?" Was his next question. But something about the way he asked, he seemed to know the answer.

"You", she answered and then asked him, "Gabriel, why do you asked me when you already know everything?"

" I don´t know everything. I don´t know, for example, about whom you thought when I wasn´t there."

"No idea, Gabriel. It all happened so damn fast and I´ve actually only thought that I have to get myself to safety as quick as possible and which opportunity would be better, to the castle or to you", Lily said.

"In the whole time until you finally ran to the castle, you didn´t think of Jack, right?"

Lily had to think a moment. She didn´t know what this had to do with the whole matter, but he was right. She had only been thinking of Jack and had had the feeling that she had to go to him as quick as possible when she had fled to the castle.

Lily nodded. "Does that mean it has something to do with of whom I think?" Lily asked her question which she herself didn´t believe completely.

"No", he confirmed her suspicion that she had actually known inside.

Lily exhaled giving up. Probably Gabriel´s questions should tell her something. But what should it be? Should she give herself the answer?

"Gabriel, whatever you want to tell me or what I shall figure out myself… Can´t you just tell me?"

The old vampire smiled at her understandingly. "You have talked about this invisible bond between a Valkyrie and her guardian. Now just think about what you felt, when you were attacked by these three vampires and then what you felt when you ran to Jack in the castle." Okay, he had decided that she should figure out it herself. She understood this bond when it was about Jack. This confidence, this sense of security, this concerns about one another and this wanting to protect… suddenly Lily saw it. She didn´t know what it was, but she had the same feelings for Gabriel… and she still had them… but didn´t she also have it for Azrael?

It seemed that Gabriel could see on her face that she had found it out. "This bond doesn´t only exist between a Valkyrie and her from fate chosen guardian, but also between a Valkyrie and her master."

"Do you mean that you´re my master now automatically?" Lily asked interested. In fact he had given her an answer. Although in a roundabout way, but it was a response. She didn´t know what exactly "master" meant, but it was an answer.

"No, I´m not, Lily", was Gabriel´s answer. But it seemed that he wanted to say something more.

"Why not? Jack is only because of that my guardian?"

"It´s more complicated...", he said barely and Lily knew that it would be over now with the answers. But Gabriel surprised her again when he added: "I must ask you a question and then there is a ritual… But before I tell you that Lily, you really should learn the other things…"

Probably he was right. You also don´t clean your teeth before you got out of bed. But she was really grateful that he had told her at least something. She remembered that she hadn´t even thanked him for saving her life. On impulse she stood up, leaned a bit down to Gabriel and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Only inches from his ear, she said, half whispering: "Thank you!" Gabriel had meanwhile laid his hand on her arm with which she was supported on the table.

Gabriel turned his head to Lily to look into her eyes. Their heads were only inches apart. There was no great distance between them. They could touch each other in seconds. Without Lily wanting it her heart beat faster.

With a jerk the door of the living room was thrown open and an angry Jack burst into the room. Gabriel´s hand disappeared quickly off Lily´s arm and Lily was scared by Jack´s sudden appearance and stepped aside. He was holding a few sheets of paper in his hand which he put on the table in front of Gabriel in the next minute. And said desperately: "What do I have to do to say no to someone?"  
**  
**


	21. Fiery Matter

**Hi my dear readers! Thanks so much for your reviews.**

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thanks so much for helping me. Feel hugged.)**

**Fiery Matter **

Angry and helpless at the same time, not knowing what to do with what Walter told him or how to prevent it, Jack stormed out of the room. In his hand he held the letters that Walter had given to him and Walter had managed to unsettle him. Actually, Jack knew very well he could act and make decisions in this regard and, but Walter's caused him to doubt it, not only because it was not about the laws of the Order, but rules in the human, medieval world. He had to talk to Gabriel. He would tell him the truth and know what to do. He fervently hoped that his uncertainty was unfounded and he was being manipulated by Walter. However, it made him angry, angry at himself, that Walter had managed to make him doubt himself, to confuse him ...

Without thinking about politeness, he tore open the door to the living room with a jerk, as Lily called it. His conjecture was confirmed that Gabriel was here and also Lily... Why was she here? Smalltalk? Or had she managed to get the answers to her question from Gabriel? And why was she standing next to him? Jack couldn´t continue to think about this now, first this problem had to be solved. He quickly went to Gabriel standing by the table and laid the letters before him. Desperately, he said: "What do I have to do to say no to someone?"

It seemed to Jack like an eternity, when Gabriel took the letters in the hand, and took a glance at each one. Gabriel frowned irritated and replied asking: "Jack, you can reject them all. You have to know that."

Out of relief Jack sank in the chair that was standing right next to him. But only seconds later, the relief was replaced by anger. Anger at himself and anger at Walter. How he hated that castle guard.  
"Reject what, Jack?" Jack heard Lily's curious voice. But instead of answering to Lily's question, Jack decided to explain to Gabriel his behavior.

"I know, Gabriel. Only Walter has somehow managed to confuse me, "Jack took a deep breath," I was just not sure if there is a difference between the rules of the Order and the rules in this time... "

Gabriel looked at him understandingly. "Walter leans on you pretty hard, right?"

Jack just gave him a resigned nod.

"Reject what?" Lily asked again, her voice tinged with anger, because Jack had ignored her question. Jack could understand it, only if she was angry now, should he really answer her question? She would explode! But eventually he had to tell her, after all, it concerned her.

"Marriage requests," Jack said a short answer. Her eyebrows wandered inquiringly towards each other and she seemed to think about it. Slightly taken aback, and with a smile on her lips she replied: "You get marriage proposals? Just like that? Is it at common that women ask men at this time?" She stepped closer to Gabriel and looked curiously over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the letters which Gabriel was still holding in his hand and reading through. Sure, she thought that he had received requests. A very logical response, if someone came from the 21st century. But in this time ...

Jack turned his attention to Lily and said gravely: "No, not for me, Lily. For you."

Lily lifted her head. "What do you mean for me? These letters are addressed to you. Then they surely can't be for me." But before Jack could reply Gabriel intervened.

"Jack, how is it these aristocrats and wealthy bourgeois think that you are looking for a suitable man for Lily?"  
Jack had to consider briefly what he said Gabriel, not because he did not know the answer, but because now Lily was staring at him with a gaping mouth and would she explode at any moment.

"From Walter. He is or was looking for a new wife and then had casually announced that here in the castle is a woman who is of a marriageable age and it's time she married...", Jack imparted the information but his words were not well chosen, because Lily got furious.

"What?" Were the first word that Lily could say. "What does the Castellan think he is doing? First, I decide who I will marry and it would be more appropriate to ask me and not you, Jack. And secondly, what do you mean, it's time? And thirdly, what right does Walter have to think he has, to spread the word that I want to marry? Just you wait! He´ll pay for that!"

Jack had somehow expected this reaction and for him it was understandable, again Lily didn´t think of the fact that she was in the Middle Ages, and it would have been even easier, if he didn´t have to explain to her another rule of the Order, but to talk to her in peace about this...

Furious, she stared at Jack, but he knew that her anger wasn´t meant for him, but Walter. Jack could see in the corner of his eye that Gabriel leaned back in his chair and thought about Lily's words. Now Jack knew he should be careful of what he said, otherwise it would probably happen the first time that they would have a real argument and Jack didn't want that, not when Walter was the trigger for it.

But apparently she didn´t want to talk to him about it, because she turned to the door and put her feet in motion. Jack knew what she wanted to do now. Turn her threat into action. Before Jack could utter a sound or react, he could only observe what happened right before his eyes, because it just happened too fast. Gabriel got up and had grabbed Lily's arm and moved her into the chair. He leaned his hands on the chair and made it impossible for Lily to get up. Lily gave a startled cry. When Lily's cry had died down, Jack heard, Gabriel saying in a stern and commanding voice: "You stay here! This is a matter between Jack and Walter. You have nothing to do with it!"

Jack knew what was coming next. Did Gabriel have to speak that way? Outraged gasping Lily replied confidently without any sign of fear to the vampire: "I have nothing to do with it? It's about me, so I have something to do with it!"

Jack could not help but admire Lily in this moment, for her courage to object to Gabriel. In front of her wasn´t only a noble person with a high rank in the Middle Ages, but also an old vampire. And she treated him as if there was no difference between them. Well, Jack had to admit she was also impulsive and in fact often placed herself into dangerous situations that he had to straighten it out. It was not easy, but it didn´t bother him. Lily was just Lily. And he did not want for her to change. He liked the way she was and if that meant he would pull her out of trouble more often, then he had to do it. Jack was about to say something to calm things down when Lily cut him off, and she actually tried to get past Gabriel. She had leaned forward, put her hands on Gabriel's arm and with great effort, she tried to loosen his hand from the chair. Without success.

"Get out of my way," she told Gabriel. In a way that Jack had not expected. Especially not the tone in which she had said to him. Jack now had to act. Lily had crossed a boundary. She actually had given a command to someone of higher rank in the medieval caste system. And that she didn´t know the medieval laws and rules didn´t count anymore as an excuse for her behavior.

Jack jumped up from his chair and tried to persuade Gabriel to relax, for his expression betrayed that he was not pleased about Lily's utterance. "Gabriel, Lily has certainly not meant it in that way. She is angry and then you can...", Jack didn´t get further, because Gabriel interrupted him.

"She has meant just what she said, Jack", Gabriel said coldly.

Jack took a step toward them and was looking feverishly for a way to defuse this situation. Of course, Gabriel had noticed that he slowly approached and reacted to it, in which he raised his left hand in Jack's direction and said in a warning voice. "Not one step further, Jack!"

Jack gathered up his courage, after all, he would have to fight in the next second with a friend, to protect Lily. And this friend was also a vampire. He had no chance. "Gabriel, please ..." Jack tried it in supplication.

"Jack, you know yourself that it is not the first time she has given me a disrespectful command. This action has consequences", the old vampire replied on Jack's entreaties.

Jack had to take a deep breath. "Gabriel ..." What Jack wanted to say exactly, he didn´t know himself. Lily took the decision away from him. She glared angrily at Gabriel.

"That bothers you? That I gave you a command? Not easy to follow orders, right? Of course not. A count doesn´t get commands, he gives commands", Lily said slightly ironic.

"Lily, stop that!" Jack responded impulsively. It made things worse. Jack held his breath and prayed that Gabriel didn´t allow the consequences to become true... But first, nothing happened. Gabriel did not budge from the spot and his eyes were penetrating and angry directed at Lily, who didn´t let it intimidate her, however.

Jack had to take action quickly. He could not let a vampire punish her. Who knows what that would be? He did not want to think about it further when he imagined the punishment options looked like in medieval times. But before Jack could intervene, Gabriel said something.

"Lily, you're damn lucky that I cannot punish you. First, because I´m not allowed to, although it wouldn´t stop me. And second, because it would be noticed and I place you in mortal danger", Gabriel paused for a moment and then went with a convincing explanation, "Lily, you have to stop getting angry about things that you cannot change but you should first talk about it in peace and find a solution. It is truly a fact that women aren´t asked in person first, if a man asks for her hand. And since Jack is your guardian the questions are directed to him and they will negotiate only with him. And ultimately he decides to whom you get married. And that Walter has announced in the city, that you shall marry, is a completely different thing and you won´t deal with Walter about it. Do I express myself clearly?"

Jack stood rooted there. Gabriel had told Lily the medieval approach to the teaching of spouses and in some cases they were identical to those of the Order. Only what did he mean, he could not punish her? Mortal danger?

"Mortal danger?" Jack asked out of a pulse and his face was very pale. Gabriel dared to grin actually.

"Jack, you want to explain Lily the rules of the Order tomorrow, right? Maybe I should be there and explain a few things", Gabriel said but without answering Jack´s question.

So Jack repeated his statement. "Deadly danger? What do you mean?"

Gabriel looked at Jack for a moment. "The danger is not from me, but from others, Jack."

Gabriel's tone made Jack realize that he would not talk about it further. Jack nodded in understanding.  
Jack let himself fall back into the chair and his eyes landed on Lily, who was staring thoughtfully at her hands. Suddenly Jack remembered again their conversation from earlier. Hopefully she didn´t blame herself now with accusations that she had not played by the rules again. Maybe Jack was doing the wrong thing now, but judging by Lily's face, he was right. He got up and knelt in front of Lily, raised her head with his hand carefully up so she looked into his eyes.

"Lily, do not blame yourself. No matter what you do. I´m always behind you", Jack said softly.

Lily took a deep breath before she replied in a shaky voice: "I've done it again, Jack. I disappointed you again."

Jack shook his head. Furthermore, they had not talked directly, but Jack already suspected that there was even more behind it than just Svafa Vanadis statements.

"No, you did not. I expected no other reaction from you", Jack gave back with an honest smile on his lips.

"Jack, that. .." Jack turned his head quickly to Gabriel and interrupted him before he could say something that would make Lily's self-doubts worse. "Gabriel, don´t..."

"Gabriel", Lily began and Jack's head turned back to her, "I'm really sorry that I misbehaved. I know that I sometimes lose my temper, but it's not really easy for me to accept that I am not a free woman anymore."

"Lily, you're a free woman. You are not born in servitude", Gabriel said with emphasis and Jack knew that Gabriel had forgiven Lily even before she apologized. Something told Jack that it wouldn´t normally the case. Gabriel had threatened consequences, but they were not materialized. And Gabriel was really not the kind of person who made idle threats.

Lily sighed. "No, I'm not a free woman. And if I understand it right, it doesn´t just have anything to do with this era." Lily paused and turned her head to Jack. "This marriage rule is also a rule in the Order, right, Jack?"

Jack was always impressed anew by Lily's gift to draw the right conclusions. Jack nodded, but he also had to explain her something. "It's not exactly like it, Lily. Actually it's more that I must give my consent. If I refuse, you may not marry the man."

"And what about you? Or is it only for women?" Lily asked and her voice tinged with contempt.

"I need the permission of the Order."

"Well, then there is actually such a thing as some equal rights within the Order", Lily said and actually a smile appeared on Lily's lips that Jack gave back.

"Equality" was heard in Gabriel's questioning voice, and Jack could see in Lily's face that she regretted her choice of words.

Jack thought for a moment whether he should talk to Gabriel or leave it to Lily. Perhaps it would be better if she would do it.

"Lily," Gabriel said without giving the two a chance to say something, "you have the same rights as a man in your time, right? And not only that, there is no caste system, right?"

Gabriel had completely understood the point. Jack was glad, for it allowed Gabriel to understand Lily and him better. Lily nodded and gave him a friendly smile.

"That explains a lot," Gabriel added.

Jack sat back in his chair and actually he still had to talk to Gabriel, about those proper gentlemen who wanted to ask for Lily's hand and would show up here tomorrow. He simply had no idea how that should be dealt with. And he also wanted that Lily would be present at the interview with Gabriel, it was because she was right. She had something to do with it.

"Gabriel, you've certainly seen that these proper gentlemen want to come over tomorrow and I just do not know how to handle it. I mean, do they ask me and I just say no? I know how it is in Order, but it doesn´t necessarily mean it is dealt with the same way in this case."

Jack looked expectantly to Gabriel.

"It´s different. They will negotiate for Lily's dowry and they obviously will want to see her. Jack, if you wish it, I can lead the negotiations. That would be no problem for me. And then we should have a serious word with Walter."

Jack was really grateful to Gabriel, and he had no doubt that Gabriel would not mislead him, no, tomorrow he would ultimately gain only what was his rightful position in Lily's life, because then, not only Jack would be Lily's guardian, but also Gabriel. Jack did not really know much about this alliance Ehwaz, but he knew that Gabriel had the same duties as he had, and there would also be other duties that Gabriel would have, which he unfortunately did not know really. For example, there was the matter of the punishment. What the heck did Gabriel mean? What was the punishment?

"Sure," Jack replied.

But before another word could be exchanged, suddenly a bell rang and Azrael simultaneously stormed into the room. "The barn is burning," he announced, and all stood up at the same time and ran to the courtyard.

Agatha, Johann and the other residents had already formed a chain and handed a bucket from one to the other. But Jack could see that it didn´t really helped much. It was like a drop in the bucket. The straw and hay caught fire too fast. Jack quickly joined in the line and helped. Jack heard Gabriel give instructions and warned the others to prevent the fire from extending access to the castle. The barn was already lost to the fire. How much Jack wished now to hear the sirens of the fire brigade, but they wouldn´t sound.

From the corner of his eye he saw Lily run to the burning barn. Was she crazy? Ignoring the next bucket, which then fell to the ground, Jack ran after Lily. When he reached the stable door he was met by flames and he saw that the horses were still in the barn. Why had nobody thought to bring the horses out of the stable? A split second Jack had the thought that it was absolutely mad, to go into that burning inferno to retrieve the horses, but did he really have a choice? Lily was already there.

Determinedly, he ran in and pulled free every horse that he met on the way to Lily. Lily had gone through already, and drove back the horses, which were free towards the exit. Fortunately there were not many horses. It was a scorching heat and it got harder and harder to breathe. The first horse had left the stable, and Lily went to Gabriel's stallion, which fought in his agony with all the force he could muster against the rope that made the flight to safety impossible. Curiously enough, Jack had no worries that this black stallion could do something to Lily. He looked dangerous as he reared up angrily, but when he saw Lily and she grabbed the rope, the horse calmed down and let her help him. Seconds later, the stallion stormed past to Lily to the courtyard.

The next moment Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her with him to the exit. Beams were already down. Just before they reached the exit, Jack noticed that the roof gave way and crashed down toward them. But in the next moment Jack was gripped by the arm and found himself in the next second out in front of the barn. The roof came straight down on to the floor. Azrael looked at him narrowly and angrily and behind him, Jack could hear Lily arguing with Gabriel.

"Thanks," Jack said guiltily to Azrael. He knew that they had risked their lives and if Azrael and Gabriel would not have been there, the roof would have buried them.

They did fortunately prevent the fire from reaching the castle and eventually it was smoking only in some places, which was dampened with more buckets of water. Jack was standing exhausted in front of the ruins of the stable. It was really a very long day. It would not be long and the sun would raise and with it a new exciting and long day. And he would get only a few hours sleep.

Behind him were heard hoof beats and Jack turned around. Diann, Svafa and Albin were returning. Jack had no inkling that they had been on the road and now they brought no good news. They had recovered dead bodies, killed by vampires. Jack turned back to the barn and looked at it thoughtfully. How long would he and Lily stay in this time and what else could they expect to happen? And what would they probably find in their time? It had looked after all, that the Legion was planning something, not against the Order because the Order had had to hide from the Legion always, but against the vampires.

Jack was about to turn around and go back to the castle to sleep a little while, as his gaze remained fixed on something at the entrance of the stable. Jack walked toward it, bent down, picked it up and looked at it. He had found the cause of the fire and it alerted all sorts of alarm bells inside him. In his hand he held a cigarette butt.

Jack turned and ran towards the entrance door, where the vampires and all members of the Order were standing. Ignoring the others he grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her with him to the castle. "Come on, Lily", he said and Lily followed him.

Together they ran to their rooms, he pulled her behind him. Out of breath and completely surprised Lily asked, "Jack, what's going on?"

Jack had to first get his breathing under control before he could answer her, so he opened his hand and showed her the cigarette butt. Lily immediately understood and panicked. Jack grabbed her by the arms and spoke soothingly to her. "Lily, calm down. There is someone else from our time here. And he caused the fire. I do not think he is still here, but if he seeks us, he knows with certainty that we are here. And the question is what does he want from us. And I cannot answer this question. We should get out of here as quickly as possible."

Jack realized that she was beginning to get her panic under control and nodded approvingly. Jack set her free again and he went to his room. When he opened the door, he saw that Lily had also put her hand on her door handle. Jack went inside his room, rushed to the cupboard, took out his bag which was almost packed and the next moment he let it fall again, because Lily screamed his name.**  
**


	22. Enemies

_**Hi my dear readers! I´m sorry that it took so long posting a new chapter. I was just too busy. But I will try to update more often. I hope you like this chapter. **_

**22. Enemies**

"What was that?" Gabriel heard Albin asking in surprise. It was really strange that Jack just walked past them, caught Lily and had gone without any explanation into the castle. Gabriel turned his thoughtful look to the barn where Jack had been standing minutes earlier. Slowly he went to the charred remains of the barn. Something here had to cause Jack to react like that. But what? Gabriel could detect nothing unusual.

Azrael had followed him and looked at Gabriel frowning. But before they could exchange ideas, Gabriel heard Lily's cry calling out in panic and fear. Without thinking further, Gabriel ran into the castle. If he was not mistaken, the cry came from Lily's room. Azrael and Diann had followed him. Together they arrived the corridor which led to Lily´s room seconds later. Gabriel had not thought about the fact that he had run with superhuman speed, his only thoughts were about as fast as possible to get to Lily.

All three vampires reduce their speed and crept slowly to Lily's room. The door was open. Gabriel focused all his senses forward and sensed another man was with Jack and Lily in the room. He could feel Lily's fear and Jack's despair. A quick glance to Azrael and Diann told him that they also noticed it. Stopping short in front of the entrance to the room the three paused in order to assess the situation closely. Gabriel had to fight the urge within him in order to not do anything rash, keep a cool head and not be guided by his emotions. Gabriel did not understand himself anymore. He liked Lily. She was a friend and his protective instincts had been activated at the moment when he had first met her. He knew it was fate, that they would soon enter into the alliance, only what he felt right now didn´t fit to the feelings that he should have for just a friend. He was afraid to lose her and it took his breath away, it robbed him of the ability to think about this problem calmly and logically to find a solution.

"Let her go," Jack's voice was heard, and Gabriel forced himself to put aside his feelings, "she has nothing to do with it."

"Oh, really? I think so, " the stranger said with an amused voice.

'Michael, what do we do?' Gabriel heard Diann's voice. In Gabriel's head the ideas flowed quick and fast. Who was this man? What did he want? What strategy would be right to get Lily out of this dangerous situation?

'I do not know, Diann. Maybe we should just go into the room and negotiate with the invader', Gabriel replied to his friend, who then nodded silently.

Gabriel was slowly followed by Azrael and Diann into the room. The man, who wore dark, strange clothes, stood with Lily in front of the big window. With his left arm, which was tightly pressed just under Lily's neck, he held her. In his other hand was a black object that Gabriel had never seen before and he held it to Lily's temple. Lily did not move, not even to defend herself. Her arms hung down to her side. Only her heavy breathing, her racing heart and the expression in her eyes betrayed that she was scared - scared to death. Jack stood a few feet away from the two and also grasped another such black, oddly shaped object that appeared to be made of metal, holding in his two hands, his arms were forward and slightly bent. He appeared to aim this unusual weapon at the man, Gabriel was positive that it was a weapon. Scattered on the floor were Lily's things that definitely did not belong in this time period. Apparently this man had been searching for something and had been interrupted by Lily.

"Oh, we have visitors, Jack," the stranger said in a cool tone and increased the pressure on his arm, to hold Lily more tightly, causing her to gasp in pain. Jack's gaze flickered briefly to Gabriel.

"I would rather say that I have a guest and a most unwelcome one. I cannot remember having invited You into my castle", Gabriel stated, not revealing his tension, but acting as the sovereign lord of the castle.

The foreign intruder turned his attention to Gabriel and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "To be honest, I didn't plan to visit you, but my two friends here. And this is none of your business", the man replied, but frowned in annoyance that he was no longer alone with Jack and Lily.

"Jack and Lily are my guests and that makes it my business," Gabriel said cool and menacingly. Suddenly, a pleased grin appeared on the face of the stranger, and Gabriel could feel the tension grow in Jack as he exhaled in resignation.

The stranger completely ignored Gabriel now and turned his attention back to Jack. Amused, he said: "Lily, the little one here is really called Lily?" Incredulously, he shook his head and then continued: "I really thought that those were only rumors ... Oh Jack, that's almost like winning the lottery. Not only that I have found you, I have actually found Lily Vanadis!"

Gabriel could have slapped himself. It was assumed that this man also knew Lily's name because he had called Jack by his name. Damn! Now he had made a mistake and the way it looked, brought Lily into even greater danger. Where were only his life experience and his knowledge of men? It was clear that this stranger came from the future and he had to know Jack. Gabriel was torn from his thoughts by Diann, who sent him a mental message that did not sound particularly friendly. 'Lily Vanadis? Didn´t you say her name is Bonengel?'

'Not now, Diann', Gabriel answered back shortly.

Gabriel's attention was drawn to Jack, but he still did not let the stranger out of his eyes. In fact Jack knelt down, put his strange weapon on the floor, got up again, holding his hands up. With a firm voice he said: "Jeff, how long have we played this game? 5 years? I should have killed you the first time you hunted me", Jack took a deep breath. "I have no idea how you ended up here."

Jack was interrupted by Jeff, who apparently wanted to give him an answer to his question. "I can tell you, Jack. I have followed you. And so I will also give you the answer to your next question. In truth your Order members didn´t notice that a few other people were among them." On his face appeared a mocking grin.

Gabriel felt how Jack struggled with himself and swallowed his anger. Gabriel just did not know what to do, he simply knew too little. Who was this guy? What was the feud between Jack and this Jeff? Jack had told him that there was disagreement within the Order and it ended in a fight and Jack and Lily had to flee from it. But apparently also external persons had been involved that Jack seemed to know nothing about.

"Jeff, this is a matter between both of us. Let Lily go. She has nothing to do with it", Jack said without reacting to what had been said.

Playfully pondering Jeff took a moment before replying Jack. "Jack, I know you (would sacrifice yourself for your woman, but in the end it will do) no good, because she will also die. And you know it."

"You kill innocent people! Do you know that?" Jack yelled at him. In this situation you could quickly lose your self-control and Gabriel also fought with himself not to do anything silly to jeopardize Lily even more. What was wrong with him? Where was the cold, calculating Gabriel?

"It all depends on the perspective, Jack. And there is no reason to yell," Jeff said calmly. Gabriel was sure that he believed his victory was assured. He thought of Gabriel, Azrael and Diann as non-hazardous. How mistaken he was.

"Why? ... Why must I die? "Lily asked in a trembling voice, and alone the word die stabbed Gabriel in the heart.

"Sweetie, believe me, it won´t be easy for me to shoot a bullet in the head of such a pretty young girl, but what must be must be. And believe me, it's nothing personal. But truthfully, you must know why we hunt and kill you."

"No, I do not know ..." Lily said in a broken voice.

"A Vanadis who is an ignorant one? I would never have believed it! Jack?" Jeff said surprised and turned his eyes questioningly at Jack.

"Jeff, she does not know! And you always have left the ignorant ones alone. So let her go", Jack pleaded.

"Then of course it is understandable that she would like to know why she must die," Jeff said in an absent tone. "But Jack, that's not quite right. The problem is that we can´t find the ignorant ones easily, it´s very difficult to trace them and so they unfortunately escape."

Gabriel could not believe his ears. The Order had enemies - mortal enemies. Apparently there was a war between the Order and this group. But who was this group? Was it a splinter of the Inquisition, which had been formed recently to kill so-called heretics and witches? And as of now, the Valkyries were reviled as witches. When Gabriel thought of Walter and his attitude toward Lily, just because she was a Valkyrie, then it would fit.

Azrael had moved away slightly from Gabriel's right side and was standing right next to Jack. The young vampire let Gabriel and Diann hear with what Azrael now discussed mentally with Jack. Gabriel was always impressed anew by Azrael´s fast comprehension and learning progress. Normally, these mental powers weren´t accessible for such a young vampire as Azrael, but he had managed to learn this ability pretty quickly under Gabriel's instructions. He had not full access, but he was able to communicate with Jack on this way.

'Jack, soon this will go down pretty fast. I'm gonna run at the two and put Jeff out of action and move Lily away from him. You take her as quickly as possible out of here ', Azrael let Jack know mentally. Azrael's plan was not so bad, Gabriel decided. It seemed the only way to get Lily out of this situation. Because you couldn´t reason with Jeff.

"No, no way ', Jack's voice echoed in his head now. 'He will notice and kill Lily!'

'Jack, he will never have the chance', Azrael spoke soothingly to Jack.

' No! Before you reach the two, she'll be dead! He keeps the gun directly at her temple and when he notices that one of us comes at him, he will pull the trigger and at that same moment she will be dead. Even at your speed the vampire cannot prevent it', Jack said explained desperately.

'Jack, but the vampire speed is our advantage, he will not expect me and he will not even perceive me ', Azrael tried again.

'He will! He was trained for that', Jack said dryly.

"Jack, you're suddenly so silent. Or are you praying to your gods, so they will take you to heaven?" Jeff interrupted the silence that had inevitably settled because of Jack's and Azrael's mental conversation. Gabriel was impressed by Jack, knowing he took part in this mental communication for his face and his whole posture had not changed. However, Gabriel also knew why that was. Jack's primary goal was to protect Lily and that meant to let no one know in any case, whatever, that he communicated with the others to rescue Lily.

Gabriel's eyes fell on Lily and what he read in her eyes, he didn´t like. She seemed to have reconciled with the idea of dying. Why did she give up so quickly?

'Lily, we are with you. Nothing will happen to you', Gabriel informed her mentally and her gaze, which had previously looked into the void, now met Gabriel's. She gave him no mental response, only her eyes revealed that she could not believe it.

"I do not know what I should tell you, Jeff," Jack said.

' Jack, well, he is a warrior, soldier or whatever you want to call it. He was trained accordingly, but that does not mean he can fight against vampires', Azrael argued.

'He can, Azrael. He can fight against vampires. The only advantage we have is that he does not know that here are three vampires in this room.'

"I thought you would continue to beg for her life, pleading with me not to kill her," Jeff said in a challenging tone. Jack had just talked about a game and apparently Jeff wanted to play a cruel game with Jack.

'Jack, do you mean that he is a vampire slayer? But why should he chase you? You are not a vampire?' Azrael asked, slightly confused.

'It's complicated, Azrael ', was just Jack`s answer.

"Why Jeff? You plan to kill both of us anyway!" Jack said with resignation.

They didn´t come closer. If Jeff was a vampire slayer in fact, he would also know that he couldn´t stand alone against three of them. Even if he would kill Lily, it would mean his end. No one wanted to risk his life.

"The only one who will die here today, is you, Jeff!", Gabriel interrupted the conversation between Jeff and Jack.

"What?" Jeff asked, slightly amused. "Well, I doubt that. I have the gun in my hand." Demonstratively he waved his gun around a bit. Maybe he could get him to no longer aim this weapon at Lily, but at Gabriel. Then Azrael´s plan would work.

"It may be that you hold the gun in your hand, but you are alone and we are four, " Gabriel said dryly.

"Well, this thing," and again he waved the gun around, "gives me the advantage."

"I don´t think so," Gabriel replied coldly and on his lips appeared a false smile.

"Well, so if I can believe Jack and from what I've seen the last few weeks, I have probably landed in the past. It is unbelievable that this is possible. And you must be a medieval castle lord and do not know about our time, so when I say that this weapon here gives me a great advantage, it is so. That you can believe of me," Jeff said in a tone that Gabriel did not like. What was this guy thinking to speak in this way to him? This arrogance and disrespect was just not to be accepted.

"What does this weapon do?" Gabriel said and his voice sounded curious. He could imagine that this weapon, like any other weapon also, cause some type of fatal injury to people. He had to swallow his anger and distract him. Distract him, so Azrael could get closer to him unnoticed and hope he was negligent in his attention.

"At worst, they can kill a human," Jeff said a short explanatory answer.

"Only a human?" Gabriel asked, attempting to make Jeff believe he misunderstood.

"No, not only a human!" Jeff rolled his eyes, but actually showed Gabriel the fact that he wasn´t very intelligent and thought he could be careless.

"You have probably misunderstood what I meant, does it only kills humans?" Gabriel asked and the confused expression on Jeff's face showed Gabriel that he did not know what Gabriel was getting at.

"You can also kill animals with it," Jeff said bored. Gabriel walked slowly, towards Jeff, who immediately aimed the weapon at Gabriel. Gabriel alerted Azrael and Diann mentally, that they still should not intervene. Jeff still hadn´t forgotten Lily, because he had pressed his arm higher and now held her in a stranglehold. Lily had instinctively put her hands on his arm to reduce the pressure he exerted on her throat, but without success.

"I would advise you not to not to come closer or I'll demonstrate what this weapon can do to a person," Jeff threatened and Gabriel stopped. He sensed his uncertainty. Even Jeff had to know that he probably would not come out of this alive.

"Then maybe you should not direct your gun at me, but at Jack," Gabriel retorted seriously and went one more step toward him. Jeff wrinkled his forehead in irritation and his eyes flew between the four men he faced to and fro. But continued to aim the gun at Gabriel. "If you kill Lily, you will follow her just seconds later," Gabriel said with a quiet, menacing voice.

Suddenly, Jeff turned his head in Jack's direction and looked at him hatefully. "I did not expect this, Jack. Hats off to you!"

And the next moment Jeff pushed Lily against the three vampires, who had set in motion the moment when Jeff removed his arm from Lily's neck and dropped his other arm with a gun. Without hesitating he jumped through the window of the large window behind him. Lily was blocked into the three vampire´s way. Gabriel caught her, turned her with her around in a quick motion, to bring her out of their way. But still holding her until Jack was by her side because she got dizzy from the fast rotation and probably would have lost her balance without his help). Azrael and Diann had followed the vampire slayer through the window and Gabriel quickly jumped behind and saw Azrael and Diann were forced to run behind at human speed after Jeff because people were in the courtyard. The sun had already risen, and the gentlemen who wanted to compete for Lily's hand had arrived all ready and were being welcomed by Walter in a friendly manner.

Seconds later, Gabriel saw that Jeff had jumped on a horse, just before Azrael and Diann reached him, and galloped through the gate. Gabriel cursed, sprinted behind him slowly catching up to Azrael and Diann. When they had passed the great gate, and no one was in sight, they increased their speed again and it wasn't difficult to follow him because of his trail of blood left by a wound, which he had gotten when he jumped out of the window. Jeff headed for the woods, but before he reached the edge of the forest and the three vampires could bring down him from the horse, he disappeared into nothingness. Gabriel stopped abruptly, and cursed again. That could not just be possible that the fate had saved this bastard again by sending him back to his time. Gabriel vowed inwardly that he would kill the bastard, who had dared to threaten Jack and Lily. He would find him and punish him for it.

"Since when do fate travelers simply disappear into nothing?" Diann said irritated. "You need a portal!"

"No idea," Gabriel said. He couldn´t deal with this issue now. He needed time for himself, time to think about his confusing feelings, to figure out what was wrong with him.

Azrael looked around still searching. Finally, he turned his attention to Gabriel. "He really wanted to kill her! Just because she is a Valkyrie? That makes no sense." Azrael let his anger speak.

"Speaking of Lily," Diann began, "why did you lie to me and said she would be called Bonengel, Gabriel? I expect an explanation!"

"Diann, for various reasons. It shouldn´t be known to more people that Lily and Jack are fate travelers. Your student is a Vanadis. She would have immediately suspected, " Gabriel stated.

"Well, I understand. But you know I follow the rules and laws. I would not put Jack and Lily in danger," Diann said.

"That´s the reason, Diann. According to the rules of the Order Jack should not be Lily's guardian. He is a Paladin and she is a Vanadis. I know that they let fate decide, so Jack is Lily's guardian. That would be the first point, which Svafa and Albin have found objectionable. You just heard them say that there are ignorant ones in the future who are Valkyries. Lily had only learned shortly before she has started the journey in time that she is a Valkyrie and she does not know the laws. She doesn´t even know what it means to be a Valkyrie. And if you ask yourself why she has not learned more by now, it's because she has had to learn more about this time," Gabriel explained his behavior.

Diann looked at him a moment thoughtfully. "You're right. I would have respected the laws and rules. I would not let the circumstances sway me. But after the appearance of this Jeff ...", Diann took a deep breath, " I think of the whole thing differently. If I correctly interpret what I heard from him and what I can put together, the Order is fighting for survival ... And it seems the fact many things have changed. I, speaking for my student and her guardian say they would not understand."

Gabriel nodded thankfully to Diann. Azrael took an audible deep breath before he asked his question. "As it looks like, the Order is on its own. Why do not the vampires help them?"

"This is a good question, Azrael. For that we will get no answer, " Gabriel said.

"We could ask Jack and ..."

"No," Gabriel interrupted him sternly, "even if, we knew it, we wouldn´t change anything. And we do not know whether the vampires help them or not."

"I think the church has something to do with it," Diann said, "the demonization of all that does not fit in their world view and this creates hatred ... Vampire slayers have always existed. But this slayer believed strongly in these teachings ..." Diann continued. Gabriel knew what Diann wanted to say, who don´t only kill vampires ...

"Yes, that was my first thought that the church has to do with it," Gabriel agreed Diann´s theory.

"Then we'll have to prepare ourselves for a new organization that wants to kill us all," Diann said resignedly.

"Or does it already exist?," Azrael said, "maybe they will be influenced, and thus have changed its intended purpose."

Azrael's words caused a bad feeling at Gabriel. An idea flashed briefly in his mind, but before he could explore this idea Diann spoke to him.

"Gabriel, tell me, do you know what these men want who have gathered in the courtyard?"

"To ask for Lily's hand," Gabriel replied almost immediately and headed back on the path to the castle. He had promised Jack to help him. Right before Gabriel could enter the great hall, Walter stopped him.

"Lord, Jack has important discussions and ..."

Gabriel interrupted him harshly. "I know. And Jack has asked me to be there." Gabriel stepped to the door of the room and put his hand on the doorknob when he again turned and looked into the angry face of his castle guard, he added sternly: "Walter, I have heard you want to marry? Don´t you have to ask me for permission?

"Lord, I...", Walter stuttered.

"We will talk about that later," Gabriel responded to Walter's hesitant statement and entered the great hall.

Jack sat on the long side of the large table and Lily sat next to him. She looked tired and exhausted. Five men stood next to the fireplace, a few meters away from the table and discussed Lily. At a second table near the entrance were other men, apparently belonging to the retinue of the five suitors. Agatha and Johann brought the guests food and drinks. However, Gabriel's attention was directed at a person sitting across from Jack, talking to him. Why was this person here? What did the Bishop of Minden want here?

Shortly, it became silent, after the audience had noticed that Gabriel had entered the room and paid homage to him. With quick steps Gabriel went to the table, greeted the bishop and then sat down next to Jack.

"Frankly, I am surprised by your unannounced visit, Your Excellency," Gabriel started and did not conceal his anger at this situation. Bishop or not, he had to follow the rules of society. And it didn´t please Gabriel that this bishop had just shown up here without an invitation.

"Your Highness, I am aware this is unexpected but when I ran into these gentlemen and they told me about their intentions, I thought that I could help them and of course You as well, with advice and support and if an agreement happened, I would like also to approve the marriage contract," the bishop explained his presence.

Gabriel was exhausted. The last days and nights he hadn´t gotten too much rest and now he had to deal also with a pushy bishop.

"With all due respect, Your Excellency, but I really wonder how You can offer advice on marriage issues. I believe that you get the best advice from someone who is familiar with it. And as far as I know, you have no experience with marriage," Gabriel answered back. He was aware that he challenged the bishop and it was not the first time that he had disagreed with a dignitary of the church.

Gabriel could see in his corner of the eye that Jack was staring at him and gasped for air. Gabriel felt the bishop suppress his wrath and the man replied in a falsely friendly tone: "Your Highness, I can explain it very well. I tell them the sacred teachings regarding the future of the marriage couple."

A mischievous grin appeared on Gabriel's lips. "That's right, the sacred teachings," Gabriel began and took a short pause to give his opposite, the feeling that he was thinking about his next words. "Then you can indeed, while Jack and I negotiate with the applicants, explain to Lily these sacred teachings. I'm sure she already knows a lot about marriage, but not everything. And I think it would be really appropriate if a priest explains it to a pious girl, what happens on the wedding night."

The bishop's hands clenched into fists and his eyes flashed angrily at Gabriel. Gabriel was certain that the bishop was not here to explain anything to Lily, let alone what happened on the wedding night. He had come to negotiate with those willing men to marry. The only question was why? Why did he want to lead these negotiations? What would it get for him? He probably would take a share of the dowry for himself for assisting in the agreement. And if Gabriel wasn´t mistaken, Walter had his hands in the game as well.

Gabriel had disrespected the bishop and that fact made the bishop really angry, because if he was not actively involved in the negotiations, he could not claim anything. Not to mention the fact that none of these men, no matter how good the offer might be, would get Lily as his wife. But the bishop didn´t know that. And he had apparently decided for now not to say anything. He really had problems with controlling his anger. And a fit of rage with so many witnesses would not be flattering for a bishop.

So now Gabriel gave his attention to Jack, who was also very tired and determined to finish the negotiations as quickly as possible. They couldn´t just say that all are rejected. That would be perceived as an insult and probably then some would feel offended in their honor, and therefore call for a duel.

Very loudly and clearly, so that all those present, could hear, Gabriel said to Jack: "Jack, I think we should start. We are all exhausted because we had to put out a fire last night." Of course, Gabriel now had the attention of all people in the room.

Mentally Gabriel said, however, to Jack: 'Jack, trust me! This is going to be over faster than you might think.'

Jack drew his eyebrows up questioningly because he could not imagine how these negotiations should come to an end fast. With each of these five men they had to first negotiate, and in the end they would announce their decision.

'And hold back Lily', Gabriel added quickly, before he rose and spoke to the crowd.

"If I understand it correctly, other than the venerable bishop here," Gabriel took a quick look at the still fuming clergy, "All those present here are subjects of mine." Gabriel paused for a confirmation from the suitors who nodded their heads in agreement. "Before the negotiations begin, I wanted to let you know that I, no matter who ultimately gets Lily as his wife, will demand the Ius primae noctis."

Gabriel knew that the three noble gentlemen would now withdraw. Without hesitation, they lowered their heads in farewell and left the room with their entourages. Gabriel heard the bishop gasp for breath and finally he could no longer contain himself.

"What are you thinking, Your Highness! In this you have no right."

Gabriel turned to the bishop and said to him in an authoritarian voice, as if he were a king: "Yes, I have, Your Excellency. And even the church can´t take this right from me."

"That is against the holy teachings," the bishop protested strongly. Gabriel was not sure if he was so upset because Gabriel claimed the Ius primae noctis or that three candidates were already gone. This bishop was difficult to understand. But something told him that it was the second reason, because his protest sounded more like an afterthought than from any true conviction.

Gabriel noticed from the corner of his eye, that Lily had bowed to Jack and whispered in his ear. "Ius primae noctis? Jack, what is it?"

Jack replied in a low voice to her: "I'll explain later."

"No," Lily insisted and Gabriel had to resist a smile. Typical Lily. And it seemed that she was fine again.

"That does not change the fact, Your Excellency," Gabriel replied shortly and then turned to one of the remaining candidates, the man obeyed his summons and sat down next to the bishop and in front of Gabriel.

Lily hadn´t received a reply from Jack, but he had merely shaken his head in the negative. And of course, Lily asked once again. "Jack, what's that?"

Of course, the bishop had to realize that now, turning his head to Lily. "Lily," the bishop said kindly, but in his voice was the confidence, confidence that he would still emerge victorious from these negotiations, "what don´t you know?"

Gabriel could not turn away just now the man who sat opposite him, since he was submitting his claim and if Gabriel knew Lily, she would definitely ask the bishop to get an answer.  
"What is ius primae noctis?" Gabriel heard Lily asking.

The bishop gave Lily a sympathetic smile. "The Count should not have used the Latin term. It was not nice of him. He kept you in the dark. After all, it concerns you." Gabriel hoped that Lily would not be angry. He could vividly imagine how she would react. Gabriel could not explain her mentally, it would be noticed that she was focused on something else. So he sent her just a mental: 'Trust me!'

Gabriel felt that Jack grew inwardly angry at himself that he had not intervened quickly enough. Now there was no turning back.

"And what does it mean exactly?" Lily asked.

"Ius primae noctis means 'The right of the first night'" the bishop translated the Latin words. Internally Gabriel braced for Lily to react angrily, but it didn´t happen. Jack seemed also to be surprised about it.

"Your Excellency, unfortunately that doesn´t tell me anything. Would you be so kind to tell me the meaning?" Lily said naively and Gabriel could not believe it. Did she really not know it or was she playing with the bishop?

"My child," the bishop began, "it means that you don´t spend your wedding night with your husband, but with the lord of your husband."

The first candidate had presented his claim and Gabriel had stated his. Now, the second candidate sat opposite him and Gabriel had trouble concentrating on the conversation because he did not like this conversation between Lily and the bishop. Jack was sitting as if on hot coals, but could not intervene directly, because he had to participate in the negotiations, which he obviously found difficult because his concentration was on Lily.  
But then Lily said something that calmed the two of them, showing them that Lily was not angry, but that she wanted to distract the bishop. Why she did it, Gabriel did not know. Perhaps she also had fun (putting) the bishop in an awkward situation, because Gabriel knew that Lily could not stand him.

"Your Excellency, what happens on the wedding night?" Lily asked seriously.

The bishop leaned back in his chair and seemed to think about what he should tell her. Gabriel was really looking forward to the answer of the bishop.

But, unfortunately, there was only a disappointing response from him. "Lily, I think that it should be told you by someone else."

Lily didn´t ask further which was annoying for Gabriel because he would have liked to listen to how a bishop would have explained to a woman about sexual intercourse, but this was better for all. Lily shouldn´t make the bishop angry.

The second and final candidate had not offered a lot and therefore they were once more alone with the bishop at the table. Lily should not annoy the bishop, but it didn´t matter if Gabriel did.

"Your Excellency, I would like to consult with Jack alone," the old vampire said, calling upon the bishop to leave his place.

"But please," the bishop said, and made no move to leave his place.

"Maybe I have not expressed myself clearly enough. I want you to leave us alone right now," Gabriel ordered in a stern tone and reluctantly the bishop followed his instructions.

It had to look to the others as if they discussed the offers, so they had to put on a show of discussing it. It seemed that Lily was better, but Gabriel had to hear it from her, so he asked her. "Lily, how are you?"

"I'm feeling good again," she answered his question honestly, but something made him doubt it. Jack had told him some a time ago that Lily displaced feelings and apparently she was doing it again now.

"Gabriel" Jack began to speak "before we had even begun negotiations, you've actually managed to have three of the suitors withdraw their requests. I would never have guessed that was possible."

Gabriel thought for a moment whether he should ask Lily what she had known. And why she had asked the bishop these questions.

"Well, the thing with Ius..." Gabriel began but was immediately interrupted by Lily. "Say, do you actually always need to use the Latin terms? In fact, I can´t understand that language. You could have said 'The right of the first night', then everyone would have understood you immediately. Well, I did not know what it was when you first said it, but it was great when all those men then went away."

Gabriel felt as if a stone lifted from the bottom of his heart, she had understood correctly. She had understood what he meant to do, namely to reduce the number of candidates. The only thing that annoyed Lily, was the fact that she had not immediately understood. Meanwhile, Gabriel knew Lily well enough to know that she did not like not to knowing about the things that were happening around her and which concerned her directly, she needed to be sufficiently informed.

"How long shall we sit here, before we declare that we reject them?" Jack asked. Did Jack say we because Gabriel had agreed to help him with the negotiations? Because in the end he made the decision and he would also like to announce it. Or did he really mean we? Did he really think that they jointly made the decision and announce it? Gabriel still had no right to do that, but it could be that Jack had given him this right? Or did he mean by we Lily? After that Gabriel had previously experienced over their time, it would not surprise him when he meant Lily. And it did not just have to do something with their time. Valkyries were able to reject the man who was chosen by her guardian if they had a good reason.

Gabriel could not help but ask he just had to. "We should sit for a while," he replied to Jack's first question. "Jack, whom do you mean by we?"

"We three," was Jack's honest answer.

"Uh, Jack ... I do not have ...", Gabriel continued but didn´t get further because Jack said clearly and brooking no argument. "Yes, you do, though I do not know where it come from, but I know that it is so."

"Jack", Lily began with a mischievous grin on her face, "if I understood correctly, I have to ask for permission if I'm going to sleep with a man, right?" Jack nodded hesitantly and Gabriel did not know exactly why Lily got that idea now and she grinned ...

"So that I don´t get into trouble because I disregard the rules of the Order, I'd rather ask you now," Lily continued and her grin grew even wider, "Jack, do you give me the permission to sleep with Gabriel?" Gabriel thought he had misheard. Had she actually asked Jack for permission to sleep with him?

"What?" Jack asked confused. Lily grinned and continued to tease. "Well, Gabriel has indeed called for this right and I think that if I really should get married and Gabriel decides to exercise his right, I should also comply with the rules of the Order." Jack began to laugh and Gabriel had to smile also. Gabriel liked it when Lily cheered up a situation. Lily was making fun and at first she had shocked him.

And Jack joined her now and said, half laughing. "Yes, you have my permission" Even if this was only in fun now, Jack had really given her permission. If Jack had only said yes, it wouldn´t be the case, but with what he added he did it.

Lily couldn´t hold back her laughter any more. Gabriel did not want to know what the others thought of the laughter. Suddenly she became very serious, or it seemed so. "Gabriel, would you do it really? Would you really claim this right of me?" And no sooner had she had asked her question than this mischievous grin appeared again.

Gabriel returned her mischievous grin when he told her. "Yes, I would" His answer sounded as if he was teasing, but Gabriel was not sure himself if he meant it seriously.

Quite unexpectedly Jack stood up and told that he, unfortunately, must refuse all candidates. And it didn´t take long and the three were alone in the room. Apparently Jack had no patience any longer to be with these men in a room and certainly it was due to his exhaustion.

Jack yawned and said shortly after that. "I am going to bed."

"This is a good idea," Lily agreed to him and stretched a little. Jack got up and left the room. Gabriel and Lily followed him.

Jack had disappeared relatively quickly and Gabriel and Lily walked alone down the hall. At a fork they stopped. This would separate their paths, because Gabriel's room was in the other direction.

"Well, no wedding, no right of the first night," Lily said, smiling and Gabriel had to laugh.

"Not this time, but who knows, maybe soon a good candidate will appear," Gabriel said to her. Something inside Gabriel did not want this, for a man to show up and she would marry him. Inwardly, he shook his head at himself. What had brought up that thought?

"Who knows ..."

"Although I shouldn´t perhaps insist on my right," Gabriel replied, grinning and playfully. His sentence came out as teasing, but he was serious. He should trifle with Lily's feelings. He made spoke in jest and he enjoyed spending time with her, but that could be dangerous ...

Lily had understood it, as he had said it and did not notice the hidden serious tone in his voice. "Well, maybe you're right, who knows maybe it wouldn't be any good," Lily said with a cheeky grin on her lips and without giving him a chance to counter her words she disappeared. 


	23. Friends

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thanks so much for your help)**

**23. Friends**

Lily walked with quick steps to her room. What had she said? As soon as it had passed her lips, she wanted to take it back again. She had immediately taken flight. She did not want to know Gabriel's response. Fun was one thing, but flirting? Why did she flirt with Gabriel? He was her friend! She didn´t understand herself anymore. Why did she have to say that sentence? _Who knows __maybe it wouldn't be any good_! Something like that you didn´t say to a friend! Lily was really angry with herself, again and again she slipped up and spoke without thinking. This had to stop.

Finally she left the stairs behind her and entered the long corridor where her room was. She was really exhausted and tired. Again and again the phrase repeated in her head. _Who knows maybe it wouldn't be any good_! It was not even an original saying, no, she had heard it from a very good friend.

_Lily sat in the middle section of the stairs leading to the entrance of the building._ _For about a year she had lived in this apartment complex in a residential community._ _And she and her roommates were the youngest members in this house, being__.__all were college students._ _They had really been lucky that they got the apartment, for both the landlord and some of the tenants had been skeptical to have them there._ _Young people who liked to party could mean trouble and cause stress._ _But against all the prejudices, they already had lived peacefully for a year without any significant incidents with their neighbors._ __

Lily had escaped to the outside because her roommate Janet was once again hogging the apartment. She and some like-minded people were holding a séance._._ _For Lily, it was a pure waste of time._ To _allegedly receive messages from the next world ..._ as_if we didn´t have better things to do, she couldn't help thinking. Lily and the other roommates had always fled, when, once again she held a séance. First Lily went to another floor to see one of the neighbors who was now her best friend, to make a surprise visit._ _But when she knocked at the door of the apartment number 5, she had received no response._ S_he must be working again._ _If she remembered correctly she was looking for a little boy, who had been kidnapped from his home._ _Finally Lily had landed on the steps to the entrance._ __

Lily rested her chin on her hand and looked at the quiet road. _It had to be almost midnight._ _She sighed deeply and hoped that this bunch of necromancers would soon say goodbye and she could go back into her apartment._ _Suddenly she heard the brakes of a car parking and her eyes immediately flew in that direction._ _A smile appeared on Lily's face when she recognized the old, green Mercedes standing at the curbside._ __

I_n moments her friends Mick and Beth were standing before her__._ _She gave them a welcoming smile._ _She had grown fond of them and__she could hardly think of living a day without these two people._

Beth greeted her with a questioning look: "Is Janet having a séance once again?" Lily nodded annoyed. _Mick's eyebrows raised inquiringly in his typical way and let Lily explain it to him._ __

"Yes, Janet's new hobby. _Well, it is not so new, she's been doing it__for a few months."_ __

"She changes her hobbies quite often, right?" Mick asked the rhetorical question, and Lily just shrugged her shoulders shortly. __

"Did you find the little boy alive?" Lily changed the subject. __

"Yes, we did," Beth answered her question. _Mick looked around, searching the area and focused his attention more on the opposite side of the street and then turned back to Beth, who now had sat down next to Lily._ __

"That's good." __

"Is something wrong?" Beth asked him worriedly and Lily furrowed her brow in confusion. _What should not be okay?_ _All was quiet._ _There was no one to be seen in the area. _ __

"It's all right, Beth," Mick said reassuringly. __

Lily was surprised at the situation, but thought nothing more about it. __

"Will you come up?" Beth asked Lily. __

"I do not know Beth. _It's late and you had a long, hard day._ _You probably would love to go to bed," Lily said to her kindly._ _She would like to chat with Beth, but she knew Beth had to be pretty tired._ __

"Come on," Beth said encouragingly, "you don´t want to sit on these stairs any longer."___While Beth got up, she grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her to her feet._ _They said goodbye to Mick, who gave them a friendly smile and replied: "Good night, Ladies!"_ __

Beth pull her into the house and before the door closed behind her, Lily saw that Mick was still in the same place, only he had turned around. _Why didn´t he go to his car?_ __

After Beth and Lily had sat comfortably on the sofa, Beth said: _„_ _"I think today I said something stupid." Aha, Lily thought._ _So that was why she wanted her to come with her. Beth wanted to talk to her._ __

But Lily still frowned at her, confused. _She didn´t think that Beth would have ever said something stupid._ _Where did this thought come from?_ __

"Well, Mick and I talked about having children ..." Beth began hesitantly. __

"Wow," Lily exclaimed, "but you have only had one or two dates!" __

"Yeah, I also thought of that... _oh well and I only wanted to lighten things up a bit." Again, Lily wondered._ _Why should she need to lighten up the situation?_ __

"Lighten it up," Lily asked finally. _"Why should you need to lighten up the topic?"_ __

Beth took a deep breath. _"It's kind of complicated ...", and she added even more quietly," now I'm using Mick`s words."_ __

"Complicated, yes?" Lily said questioningly. _But Beth did not go into it, but just continued with her story._ _"I told him that we haven´t even had sex and then I said: Maybe it wouldn't be any good."_ __

Lily's face broke into a smile. _"I have to remember that saying. It´s so cool."_

"Lily, please." __

"No, I'm serious._._ _I think it's good._ _And I do not know why you're upset with yourself because of that sentence._ _How did he respond to that?"_ __

"He said just had this smile on his lips, I could not quite interpret it." __

Lily stood in the door of her boudoir, staring at her things, which were scattered all over the floor. Her thoughts were torn abruptly from her memory, and another took possession of her thoughts. The last few hours she had managed not to think about it, just banished it from her mind. But now she couldn´t fight against it anymore. The idea that this Jeff had touched her things, caused an uncomfortable feeling in her. She no longer felt safe.

"Hey Sunshine", she heard Azrael's voice and set her gaze in the direction from which it came. Azrael was in her room. She had not noticed him at all. He stood before the large window that was now closed with a wooden board, making it much darker in her room. The board blocked out the sunlight and the small window let only in a little light. Apparently, Azrael had done it. Lily liked it when he called her Sunshine. Lily had sat on a bench in the courtyard, enjoying the sun, when Azrael had called her that the first time. The sun was shining on her hair and surrounded her as if she would shine.

Lily gave him a small smile and greeted him by saying: "Hey Moonshine." Azrael smiled and came towards her. "Are you all right?" He asked worried and Lily nodded. Somehow it was all right. No one was injured or even killed. It had gone well. So everything was okay now so Lily spoke up.  
"Thanks," Lily said suddenly and Azrael wrinkled his forehead questioningly, so Lily explained further: "For the wood panel." But Lily didn´t only mean the wooden board, but what had happened a few hours ago in this room, only she could not express that.

"You´re welcome, Lily," Azrael said seriously.

A moment of silence hung in the room before Azrael broke the silence. "This Jeff disappeared into nothing." Lily stared questioningly at Azrael. What did he mean into nothing? But before Lily could ask him, he answered her question. "He disappeared in front of our eyes most likely went back to his own time. We do not know how that was possible, but he's gone."

Lily nodded understandingly and was glad that this Legionnaire wasn´t there anymore. Although she had no definite confirmation, she was sure that this Jeff had been a Legionnaire.

"Um ... Lily, I´m not allowed to ask you, but do you know this group which wants to kill you?" Azrael asked cautiously.

Lily took a deep breath. "All I know is what Anna told me and that's not much. She said that it is this group's mission to destroy the Order. Why, I do not know." Lily had carefully not mentioned the name of this group. She knew that it was not good to talk about the future and actually she mustn't give Azrael an answer, but he was her friend and she could not help it.

"Lily, do you know what this group is called" Azrael asked cautiously.

"Yes," was Lily's short answer. Azrael looked for a while undecided at Lily, breathed deeply and then said: "Shall I help you to clean up?"

"Sure," Lily said and was not thinking about the fact that most of the things that lay on the ground were things from another time and Azrael shouldn´t see them. But she didn´t wanted to be alone in this room.

She placed it on the table and began to pick up more things and put them into her bag. Azrael followed her example. Lily really wanted to sleep, but if someone were to come to her room as a surprise, she would have to explain a lot ...

Azrael had just lifted an object, when he startled and questioningly turned to Lily. "What is this?"

Lily looked at his hand which he held in the air. In his grasp was her MP3 player and the headphones were hanging down from his hand. The display lighted. Azrael probably had turned it on when he picked up the player.

"Sounds and a singing voice are coming from this thing. Something like this I've never heard before!" the young vampire continued disbelieving.

Lily walked silently toward him. Lily could not hear the music. It was set too low, but now she knew that vampires could hear better. She took one of the pair of headphones, put it in her ear. A smile appeared on her face and she said absently, "One of my favorite songs ..."

In explanation, she added: "How it exactly works, I do not know, but it is a device that can hold music and whenever you want to, you can listen to it again and again."

Azrael gave back the MP3 player to Lily. She pressed a button to turn it off, wrapped the cable of the headphones around the player and put it in her pocket.

Lily knew that Azrael's curiosity was aroused and she could understand him very well. But surprisingly, he asked no question, but said, "I had better go."

Lily wasn´t able to say anything. Just a few items of clothing were lying beside her bed, she quickly picked them up and stuffed them in her bag. She did not want for Azrael to go. She did not want to be alone. She was afraid to be alone in this room.

"We all need sleep," Azrael added.

"I'm really tired," Lily said to him, instead of asking him to stay longer with her. Firstly, she could not ask him because he needed his sleep, and secondly, she had to be brave. Everything was okay again and her fear was really childish.

Azrael said goodbye to her and left the room. Lily stood undecided in the middle of the room. She was really tired and exhausted, but her fear didn´t would not leave her. 

Decided to try to sleep now, she went to her bed and lay down, still wearing her dress. Time passed and Lily could not sleep, wincing at every little noise. What if this Jeff came back and what if others were also here? Fear constricted her throat. She just could not stay longer in this room, she needed the feeling of security.

She quickly got up, ran to her door and opened it carefully and quietly. Seconds later she stood in Jack's room where.Jack slept soundly Her fear vanished a bit. She felt very guilty about waking Jack from his sleep, but she could not help it. She carefully shook his shoulder.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Jack asked alarmed.

There were tears in Lily's eyes when she told him: "I just cannot be alone in my room."  
Jack looked at her with understanding. His bed was big enough for more than three people.

"Okay, you can stay here," Jack said softly, and Lily ran around the bed and lay down on the other side. It didn´t take long and Lily fell into sleep. She felt safe again.


	24. The Son of the Ruler

_**Hi dear readers! Here is the next chapter. Thank you very much for the reviews. Let me know what you think of this chapter.**_

_**Translated: Cleo28**_

_**Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thank so much for your help. You do a great work.)**_

**24. The son of the ruler**

Candlelight lit up the small living room where Lily was sitting alone. Bored, she let out a sigh. It was late evening and many of the castle inhabitants were already asleep. Lily's usual rhythm of life was a bit confused caused by the recent events that she had banished from her mind. For a few hours she had been awake, she and Jack had met in this room to talk in peace about the Order, but shortly after they sat down, Albin came and invited Jack to join a conversation among guardians. The request, however, sounded more like a command, which Jack had followed without hesitation. Jack gave Lily an apologetic look and as far as Lily knew, Ferdinand was also invited to this conversation.

Lily's eyes fell on the small stack of paper that Jack had left lying on the table. Curious, she reached out her hand and pulled the paper in front of her. Lily inquisitively read the headline of the first page: "Gods and Goddesses". Her guardian had made a list of Norse gods and their properties. Disinterested her eyes flew over the individual names of gods - Odin, Thor, Freya, Forseti...

She lifted the sheet and laid it aside. With a fleeting glance she looked at the next sheet, which came to light. There was a list of mythological concepts and their meanings. She also put this paper aside, without having actually read it.

However, the last note got her undivided attention when Lily read the headline: "Laws and rules of the Order of the Valkyries". Eager to learn the answers she took the sheet of paper in his hand and held it up to eye level. She carefully studied each line. Right at the start of the article, the author pointed out that it was only an abridged selection. Lily set down with disappointment the sheet after she had read it. She had learned nothing new. In essence, there were the same rules she already knew from their middle age classes with Gabriel.

"Hey Sunshine," Azrael said cheerfully, and Lily was shocked. She had not heard him enter the room.

"Do you have to sneak up on me like that?" Lily asked accusingly. Azrael gave her an apologetic smile, sat down across from her and put a book on the table.

"That was not intentional," The young vampire replied apologetically.

Lily's eyes fell on the book. Reading! That would be a good free time activity! Embroidery or weaving weren´t Lily´s favorite hobbies to avoid boredom. In the weeks in which she was stuck in that time, she had often been bored.

"What is the book about?" She said enthusiastically.

"I don´t know exactly," Azrael confessed, "I have not read it yet. A certain Homer wrote it."

"Homer? Isn´t he this Greek author, who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey?" Lily said, grabbed the book and pulled it to herself. Azrael just shrugged his shoulders. It would be interesting to read these stories than just watching the movies. Lily looked through the book expectantly. Disappointed, she flipped the cover shut and shoved it back, as she said: "It is in Greek."

"Sure, it is," Azrael said simply.

Lily leaned her chin on her hand and took a deep breath. All the books that she had seen until now, were either written in Latin or in Greek. And she learned neither the one nor the other language.

"Azrael", Lily began thoughtfully, "can you actually speak Greek fluently?" She knew that Azrael could read the language at least.

"Yes, I can. Somehow vampires have a talent for it, to learn languages quickly. When I came to Europe with Gabriel, I started learning a few European languages."

"When was that?" Lily asked curiously.

"1192", was Azrael´s terse response.

"Some time ago I had asked you how old you are and you told me you'd be 23 ... uh ... how old are you really?" Lily asked her next question. A smile appeared on his face and without hesitation he answered the question.

"I'm 55 years old."

Lily's chin moved to the bottom in inevitably amazement. He determined didn´t look like a 55 years old man.

"Wow, you do not look like. You look like ..."

"... 23", Azrael completed her sentence and added, "I was 23 years old when I was turned."

"Who did turn you?" came promptly Lily´s next question.

Azrael took a deep breath. "Actually, you should not ask that, Lily."

"Why not?"

"We keep it a secret who our sire is. It is to protect us both", he told her.

Lily nodded understandingly, but she wanted to know. Azrael looked at her thoughtfully. Silence spread through the small room.

"I had already told that I am from Syria," Azrael began to tell, "I was born in 1153 as the son of Rashid ad-Din Sinan under the name Malik. He was the leader of the Assassins. We lived in the castle Masyaf. In 1176 he turned me, and he decided to send me with his sire, to discover the world."  
Azreal knew that Lily would not break the trust he placed in her when telling her his sire's name.

Puzzled Lily said, not wanting to believe: "You are an Assassin?"

"Yes," he replied hesitantly, because Lily's reaction was unusual.

Lily gasped. In front of her was not only a vampire, no, he was also an Assassin. But nevertheless he was her friend.

"Um ... The word Assassin has in our time more a negative connotation," Lily tried to explain her reaction because Azrael looked puzzled and wondering.

Azrael then nodded understandingly. "Meanings change over time ...", he mused.

"Why didn´t you keep your name? It sounds quite nice", Lily said with interest.

"A vampire has to change its name often and I decided when I left Syria to carry a new name."

"And why Azrael? Isn´t it the angel of death in the Islamic faith?" Lily persisted.

Again, a grin appeared on Azrael's face. "Yes, it is and you really know much about it," he said in surprise.

"I have a friend who has dealt with all the angels and I can remember a few things", Lily explained her knowledge. "But you have not answered my question."

"Malik also means angel, and I wanted a name that also carries the meaning of angels in it," a mischievous grin appeared on Azrael's face, "and since I am an Assassin and vampire, I found the name Azrael quite fitting."

Lily had to smile, but then asked thoughtfully. "Gabriel also has the name of an angel."

"Yes, he does," the Assassin gave back.

"Um, if I understand correctly, you came to Europe with Gabriel, right?" Lily paused to get confirmation that she received. "Did he change his name when you did?" Lily asked cautiously.

"No," was his reply. It sounded like the truth, but something said Lily that there's more behind it. And she was also sure that Azrael would say nothing more to her.

"What are those records that lie in front of you?" Azrael asked curious and changed the topic.

"About the gods, mythological concepts and laws of the Order, which basically reflect only the current laws. Jack and I were actually talking about the Order, but then Albin came and Jack went with him ..." Lily said sadly.

"May I?" Azrael asked, reaching for the paper on which the gods were listed. Lily nodded in agreement. "I don't know much about these gods."

"Then we have something in common," she said.

Incredibly fast, he had read the paper and grabbed the next, on which were the terms.  
"Have you actually read the paper?" He asked interested.

"Only the laws," Lily replied neutrally.

Azrael turned the sheet, held it up and pointed his finger at the lower part of the page. "This one even stated what your last name means."

Now the young vampire had Lily´s attention. "And?"

"It says that Vanadis is another name of the goddess Freya, and it means 'daughter of the Vanir '."

Lily had always thought that her last name had probably Spanish origin, but apparently it wasn´t the case. "Vanir?"

Azrael turned the note around again, he looked briefly and answered her question: "The Vanir are a group of gods besides the Æsir."

Lily furrowed her brow thoughtfully. "Catharina said that my family would have descended from the goddess Freya ..."

"Then it would be true," Azrael said seriously.

"But that's nonsense. All these gods haven´t really existed."

"On the contrary, they have," Gabriel's voice sounded behind her seriously, Lily jumped and spun around. This stalking was not really nice. Actually Lily didn´t want to meet him today. She still felt uncomfortable about what she had said to him last night. Should she apologize? But maybe it was better if she didn´t talk about it. His mood did not seem to be the best.

"And? Did you talk with Walter?" Azrael asked casually.

Gabriel nodded, his expression got a lot more seriously if it was even possible. "I hope for him that he understood my message."

Lily's curiosity grew immeasurably. Gabriel had spoken with Walter.

"What did you talk to Walter about?" the question left her lips.

Gabriel turned to Lily and his face betrayed nothing. "About his inappropriate behavior and it if he should go on like this, it will have consequences."

A sense told her that she should rather not ask, but her curiosity was stronger.

"And what are the consequences?"

Azrael had grabbed his book and hid behind it. Apparently he knew what was coming and wanted to stay out of the conversation now.

Gabriel looked at Lily and just answered her question: "It depends on his offense. If it is a minor offense it is a further reprimand. The greater his offense, the greater the penalty. Maybe even his death."

"What?" She blurted out. "You cannot be serious?" Lily had thought more like something such as he would have to leave the castle, but not death.

"Lily", Gabriel began almost threateningly, "I'm really tired now, I don´t want to argue with you about it now."

"You don´t need to put your bad mood on me," Lily replied lightly injured. Gabriel had never spoken like that to her before. She turned back to the table, grabbed a piece of paper and looked at it as if it was the only important thing in the world right now to read this note. Was he mad at her because she had thrown that comment at him last night and then left, not allowing him to answer?

She noticed that Gabriel sat down and felt that he was watching her. Morosely Lily stared at the paper in front of her. The minutes passed and finally Gabriel broke the silence that had spread in the room.

"You must have read that page that you cling so tightly to over and over," Gabriel said kindly. Lily had not read the text on the page. It was just an alibi. Lily did not answer him.

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Lily, I did not want to reproach you so ..." Lily turned her head toward him, but still saying nothing, she simply did not know what to say. Should she apologize for her words? Should she talk with him again about the existence of gods or should she quarrel with him about the sentencing of Walter? None of these items currently pleased her.

"What is written on the sheet of paper?" Gabriel tried again to get her to talk.

"It is a list of gods and goddesses. Jack gave it to me and we actually wanted to talk about the Order, but Albin asked him for an interview," she said to him finally.

Gabriel nodded understandingly. Lily noticed that Gabriel held a dagger between his hands and moving it gently up and down. The blade was equipped with decorations on the wooden handle and it seemed to be symbols. In addition, the handle was decorated with gold and precious stones and other ornaments. Lily could not tell exactly, because of Gabriel's movements. She had not seen it before. Or she simply had not noticed.

"Why do you hold this dagger in your hand?" Lily now had to ask.

Gabriel leaned back, took a deep breath and then answered her question. "Um ... no particular reason. It reminds me of things and sometimes I hold it my hand when I think about things. I do not know exactly why."

"The dagger seems to be a work of art rather than a weapon," Lily began, and then went on hesitatingly, "Can I see it?"

Without hesitation Gabriel gave her the dagger. When Lily held the dagger in her hand and could look at it better, it seemed at first to her like an antique dagger. It seemed to be old, very old. But it was only a guess. Lily knew too less about such things.

"Where did you get this dagger?" Lily asked when she looked at him.

"My father gave it to me."

Her focus was on these symbols, which she had seen from afar. She looked closely at the characters that were embedded into the wood in the handle. On both sides of the handle, there were these characters, but they were different. The signs were made of lines and triangles. She had seen these characters before. She could only make an inaccurate guess and if she remembered properly, it was a script.

"What do these symbols mean?" Lily finally asked, holding up one side and showed it to Gabriel. "It's a script, right?" Lily added on Gabriel's face was a pensive smile.

"Yes, it is a script," the old vampire began, Lily looked up briefly and then he said, "lugal ak Dumu ani ra."

"And what does that mean?" Lily asked curiously.

"For the son of the king," was his translated reply.

"Your father was a king?" it popped out of Lily in surprise. Gabriel nodded.

"And what's on the other side?" Lily asked her next question and turned the dagger.

Gabriel looked at the dagger and then only said to her. "It´s my name." Lily knew the way he had said the sentence that she didn´t need to ask further questions. He would not tell her his name, otherwise he would have done it already. Quite unexpectedly Gabriel promised: "I'm going to tell you sometime."

Lily gave him a smile. "What language is that?"

"It is now forgotten, like so much in this time. You will learn nothing from it. It is Eme-gir." Truthfully it told Lily nothing. She had never heard of it before. It was probably the own name for the language. Maybe she knew it only under another name. After all, she knew that these signs were a script.

"Where was this language spoken?" Lily had not asked him where he was from, because Gabriel was always very careful with information about him. Perhaps this question would help her to learn more about him.

"In Persia," Azrael answered.

"I'm not a Persian, Azrael," Gabriel replied calmly.

"I know, but the area is now called Persia," the Assassin answered back.

Lily tried to jog her memory. Persia. What did she know about that country? The borders of countries are shifting more times in the course of time, or tool new names. Lily stared at the characters as if they would give her an answer. Suddenly the answer came to her and while she hadn't planned to say it out loud, the words escaped her.

"This is cuneiform."

Now she had the attention of two vampires.

"What," Gabriel asked just surprised.

When Lily gave her statement, she did not think that next to her sat a person who could read cuneiform writing with no problems and it was the language of his native language.

"I think they called this writing so because it reminds of it. I'm not sure. It is one of the oldest scriptures of the world." As Lily uttered the last sentence, she realized that Gabriel was familiar with this scripture, even more, he had lived at the time when it was used. Why else would his father have let it write on the dagger? Gabriel was not a Persian. Who lived there before the Persians? How long it had been Persia? He had to be old, how old exactly Lily could not tell, but old. She raised her eyes to Gabriel. He looked young. But Azrael looked young, too and he was 55 years old. How old was Gabriel? In all cases he must be older than 1000 years. Lily could say that with certainty.

In recognition of her one exclaimed: "Oh my God" She took a deep breath and then stuttered more than to say it loud and clear: "You have to ... you have to ... older ... than ... "

Lily was interrupted by Azrael. "Gabriel, tell her your age. Judging by her reaction, she has almost found it out."

Lily heard that the door opened to the room and Jack said a friendly "hello", but she could not turn around or say anything to him. She looked spellbound at Gabriel, who seemed to wrestle with whether he should follow the advice of Azrael.

Jack sat down next to Lily, looked at everyone and noticed the silence. "What's going on here?"

"Lily almost guessed Gabriel's age," Azrael told Jack.

"Really? How? Gabriel is always silent when it comes to his age," Jack said curiously.

"Lily has recognized the letters on Gabriel´s dagger. She called them cuneiform." Lily heard the conversation between Jack and Azrael, but could not turn her eyes away from Gabriel.

"What?" This came from Jack now, but he did not sound so surprised to Lily. "I did not expect this."

Of course, Jack knew more again, the thought flashed through Lily's mind. Maybe he could give her answers...

"Jack, who has used the cuneiform writing?" Lily asked, and now her head turned to Jack.

"Several nations," was Jack's brief reply, which did not help her any further. And she gave Jack a disgruntled look. "Lily, it depends on when and how they have called themselves or as we call them."

"Who first?"

"As far as I know, the Sumerians," Jack answered her question.

Lily's eyes widened and her jaw literally dropped down. That was even older than she had supposed, but was Gabriel a Sumerian or maybe even younger?

"Do you know Eme-gir?" Lily asked expectantly.

Jack let out an incredulous laugh, and then addressed Gabriel. "How long have you called yourself Gabriel?" Jack knew much more than Lily. Not only about the script, but also about Gabriel.

The old vampire exhaled audibly and actually gave an answer. "For a few months."

"You use it as a cover name during your break, right?" Jack was saying. Gabriel nodded.

"Break?" Lily asked confused.

"Yes. I really wanted to go into hiding for a while and I retired from my duties.  
But that has changed now with these vampires who do not abide by the law," Gabriel answered her question.

Once again everyone knew more than her. Well, it was also somewhat understandable to those present here and she could not blame them for her lack of knowledge. If she could convict someone for this, then it would be her father.

"And how else do you refer to yourself, if you are not taking a break?" Lily now had to ask.

"Michel Araboth de la Archanges", was Gabriel's honest answer.

Lily could understand so much French to know that he had actually given himself the name Archangel.

Lily did not notice that Jack looked thoughtfully at his hands and exhaled a deep breath.

"Jack, what's going on?" Azrael asked worried. Lily looked over to Jack.

"Nothing," Jack gave back. Lily knew that this was not true and she suspected it had something to do with the future.

"The Order documents all events that are somehow associated with the Order and they also carry a list of all vampires ... You know about me, correct Jack?" Gabriel said gravely giving Lily and Azrael an explanation.

"Well," Jack began hesitantly, "I do not know everything. The records are incomplete ..."

Lily could not believe it. It was always interesting here. She had to urgently talk with Jack about the Order. Numerous questions were forming in Lily's head and she did not know what she should ask first.

"Does that mean that all Valkyries and guardians know all about us?" Azrael asked.

"No," Gabriel's answer came immediately, "most do not deal with the records. There are only very few people who know much of the records. Actually, only the chroniclers," Gabriel answered his question. "Only I do not know how it is in the future."

"Actually, that's still the case," Jack said, "I was supposed to be a chronicler ..."

"What do you mean, Jack?" Lily had to insist.

Jack took a deep breath. "Lily, you know that it is a permanent assignment within the Order that specifies who is guardian of which Valkyrie. Bonengel and Paladin are together. In our time there is in the family Bonengel only Anna and her brother Robert. And in my family, my older brother Sascha, me and my little sister Nela. It was clear that I would not become a guardian. Sascha is Anna's guardian and Robert is Nela´s guardian."

Lily remembered that Jack had told her that he knew much of the old records, but not everything.

There was a knock at the door and seconds later Svafa, Albin, Ferdinand and Catharina entered in the room. It was clear that their conversation was over. Lily was still deeply engrossed in her thoughts when she heard Svafa saying. "I think it's time that I get to know the members of the Order, who are located in this castle."

Lily's first thought was "please anything but that". Azrael quickly gathered her notes and whispered to her: "They don´t need to see these. I will give them back to you later." Then he got up and left the room. Lily did not want to know Svafa better. This was her living room, her sanctuary. Lily had to suppress the impulse to follow Azrael. Any other person would find it difficult to suppress the desire to know an ancestor better and to learn all they could about their family's history. But Lily did not want that. It was enough what she knew her grandmother and what she had experienced so far from Svafa was no different. She wanted to continue their conversation with Jack, Azrael and Gabriel. She wanted to get answers and not make small talk with Svafa.

And now Gabriel stood up. "Svafa, it´s a good idea, but this is a very inopportune moment," Gabriel said kindly, but the undertone that resonated in his voice said something else.

"With all due respect, Gabriel, but I think that there is no bad time, when I want to talk to my subjects. And (these) four aren´t members of an alliance," Svafa said coolly and arrogantly.

Lily looked at Gabriel. She was excited to see his reaction. She had challenged him. And Lily knew now that this could be uncomfortable. But Gabriel surprised her with his next words.

"You're right, Svafa," he said expansively a friendly smile on his face. But the way he said it, set off alarm bells for Lily. She'd never heard Gabriel speak so kindly while over riding someone. "But don´t you think that it is impolite to interrupt an important conversation?"

"I do not know what could be so important in a conversation with Jack and Lily," Svafa said arrogantly and with total disdain for the couple.

"Arrogance," the old vampire said, " can quickly be fatal, Svafa. You should choose your tone towards me carefully." Threat swung in Gabriel's voice that Lily had a shiver down her back.

"Gabriel, I believe you do not realize who you're talking to," Svafa began and then went on explaining, "Not many vampires know the meaning of my surname Vanadis and what is behind it." Lily heard how Jack gasped, he took Lily's hand and squeezed it. A sign from Jack that she should under no circumstances get involved in this conversation, which Lily did not want to. She sat spellbound in her chair and followed this unusual entertainment.

A dangerous smile appeared on Gabriel's face. "Svafa, I know very well what the name Vanadis means. And apparently you do not know who you're talking to" Gabriel paused for a moment and then continued, threateningly:".. Never again dare to talk to me like this, Svafa!"

Svafa glared at him and just wanted to say something when Diann intervened, he had suddenly appeared in the room. "Svafa, be quiet."

Gabriel turned to Diann. "Diann, teach your student manners or you'll have to leave this castle." Diann nodded understandingly and pulled Svafa on one arm out of the room. Albin followed them.

Ferdinand and Catharina stood rooted to the spot next to the table and did not seem to know exactly how they should react now. They were not the only ones. Lily could not even marshal the new questions were forming in her head. Not at least because her last name was mentioned and how Gabriel had said it. Disparaging. He had expressed contempt for it.

"Um ...", Lily said, but was immediately interrupted by Jack, who had increased the pressure of his grip on her hand and shook his head.

Without another word, Gabriel left the room.

************************************************** *************************

Lily went across the courtyard at night to the ruins of the barn. She wanted to be alone and sort all the information she had received in the last few hours, and start thinking about it. Actually she wanted to visit Samru. She had not thought about the fact that the barn no longer existed and the stallion had to be somewhere else. Lily looked around and discovered an open aired structure that housed the horses. Determinedly, she went to it and discovered Samru, who was tied to a beam. Slowly she approached the horse and started right away to stroke his forehead when she reached him.

"It's really amazing that Samru will let you get close to him," Gabriel said, and the next moment he was standing beside her. Lily gasped and her heart raced. This sneaking around really had to stop. "Sorry, I did not want to scare you," Gabriel said honestly.

"I was shocked three times this day already and I'm actually getting tired of being frightened so often," she replied, still gasping for breath.

"What does the name Samru mean?" Lily finally asked when she could breathe normally again.

"Um ... wild or angry," Gabriel said lost in thought and he stroked Samru's neck.

Lily laughed. "In fact, the name is not quite right. He's rather quiet."

On Gabriel's face appeared a smile. "Well yes, but only with us two. With anyone else, he is wild."

Lily nodded and breathed deeply. Gabriel's smile disappeared and he became quite serious. "Lily, are you really a Vanadis?" This question surprised Lily. She did not quite know what to say to that.

"I think so. So, my father is, at least a Vanadis and I have that surname," Lily said.

"I never thought that you're a Vanadis, when I met you ... You're so different ... Um, it really surprised me," Gabriel confessed to her.

Lily took a deep breath. "At first my family consisted of my Dad and my Mom and well eventually I got to know my paternal grandparents. I liked my grandfather immediately. He was really a very nice man, but my grandmother ..." Lily took another breath. "I don´t like her. She is ..." Lily was looking for the right words. "She´s like Svafa and she gave me the feeling that I did not belong to her family. Maybe my Dad favors his father more and I am more like my Mom," Lily tried to find an explanation for Gabriel.

Gabriel nodded understandingly. Silently they enjoyed the time with each other.

After a while, Gabriel looked down on every side around and then closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, he stepped closer to Lily and whispered in her ear: "You wanted to know how old I am." Lily nodded. "Exactly, or just about?" the old vampire asked and Lily knew that he wore an impish grin. She couldn´t see his face.

"Exactly," she replied softly, stopping to stroke the forehead of the horse, but still holding her hand there.

"Don´t you want to continue to believe that I am 25 years old?"

"No, I want to know."

"Well ..." began Gabriel, but then stopped abruptly, took a step back and listening alarmed in the night. Something was wrong. Lily became restless and automatically her heart began to beat faster.

"Get inside! Quickly," Gabriel said worried and the next moment armed men forced their way into the courtyard and chaos broke out.


	25. Veri Domini Mundi

**Hi my dear readers! Thanks for your reviews. **

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54 (Thanks so much, Jat)**

**25. Veri Domini Mundi**

Lily was about to follow Gabriel's request, when he grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him. At that moment she realized that it was too late to reach the safety of the interior of the castle. Lily watched in horror as the intruders took out of action the two guards at the main gate without major difficulty. A single sword blow had killed the surprised guards who had had no more opportunity to defend themselves. Lily was standing a few meters away, but she could see the serious wounds that were inflicted to the men, or at least she had a clear idea, because of the great amount of blood that covered their clothing.

The next moment, Lily was aware that the attackers were vampires, because some of them jumped from the non-covered part of the battlements on the castle wall to the ground. The guards weren´t taken by surprise, but they had no chance against the enemy vampires. To Lily's horror, the vampires allowed themselves time to kill their victims. Frozen like a stone statue Lily was standing behind Gabriel and could not take off her eyes off the massacre on the castle wall. A vampire dismembered the young man standing in front of him and even from this distance she could see the satisfied expression that the cruel vampire had on his face. He seemed to take pleasure in killing and torturing his victims. The screams of the dying ones were burned in Lily's memory.

Another undead attacker had laid his sword down and had pressed another guard against the brick wall, pushing the man's head to the side and violently rammed his fangs in the throat of his victim. The cry of pain which the boy let out froze Lily's blood. Her heart raced and her logical sense told her that she would not survive this attack. There were just too many vampires. The people had no real opponent for about thirty vampires who had obtained entry into the castle in such a violent way. And in this castle, there were only three vampires. What could three vampires do against thirty?

Only subconsciously did Lily hear that Gabriel was giving orders. "Barricade yourselves in the castle!" Lily did not know how long the attack had lasted. She could not say as her sense of time had completely disappeared. Had it been only seconds or even hours?

Finally she managed to free herself from her frozen state and turned away her gaze from the castle wall. Her eyes flew full of panic to the castle gate, through which came more attackers. To Lily's surprise, she saw how Diann, Albin and Svafa fought against six vampires. They seemed to be a good team. Each one of this trio knew exactly what the other one was doing. Amazingly, these attacking bloodsuckers were inferior to the three. How could that be? Svafa and Albin were humans and they fought against the vampires, as if there was no difference between them, but the next moment the difference became clear. The vampire who had raised his sword against Svafa, was moving too quickly for Lily's eyes and immediately Svafa´s sword flew a few yards through the air and landed with a clatter on the cobblestone ground of the castle yard. Why did she have a sword? Lily had learned that it was forbidden for women to learn how to fight, or even to carry a sword. She did not like Svafa, but to see her to be at the vampire´s mercy, she had compassion for this woman and Lily wanted to act. She had to help her. Lily had no idea how, but she had to help her. But before she could even make a move, she felt Gabriel's hand on her arm, pulling her back and with a concerned, but also commanding voice he said: "You stay here!"

Briefly she had removed her gaze from Svafa and when she turned her gaze back towards her, she observed Svafa ramming a stake into the heart of the vampire. She could not believe it! How did she manage that so suddenly? And how was it even possible to defeat this vampire?  
In the corner of her eye she saw something flying through the air. She did not want to think about what that had been as immediately her attention was directed to the fight in her vicinity. Azrael fought alone against five vampires. Lily could not say for sure, but his movements and his successful sword blows told her that she was watching a well-trained warrior fight. No, not a warrior. She saw a real Assassin and as impressive as it was, it was also scary for Lily. 

Lily could not help feeling guilty because Gabriel had been kept out of the fight thus far and stood protectively in front of her. He made no move to step away from her. His hand still held her arm. She could not say for sure, but it seemed as if he were fighting a battle with himself as to whether he should fight or protect her. 

But sooner or later Gabriel had to intervene and had to give up his protective position in front of Lily. Faster than Lily could think the situation changed. Two vampires had managed to get by Azrael and attacked Gabriel. Lily could not follow the events before her eyes easily, because everything went too fast for human perception. Gabriel had just moved a few paces away with a raised sword and the next moment the two vampires were beheaded and lay at Gabriel's feet.

Suddenly someone touched her on the shoulder and Lily spun around startled. Relieved, she let out her breath when she saw Jack. He gestured with his hand to the small door on the right side of the building. There was no fighting there and if they ran fast, maybe they would reach the door unnoticed. Lily briefly turned to Gabriel, who was now forced to fight against the attacking vampires and could no longer play Lily's bodyguard.

Lily's feelings were a mess. Fear and anxiety alternated in her regularly and she was really impressed with how Azrael and Gabriel knew how to wield the swords. Gabriel had mastered the art of sword fighting better than Azrael.

Lily squeezed Jack's hand. He gave her a felling of security despite this cruel and dangerous situation. But why did they still stay here? Why wait in this danger zone? Jack had given her to understand that they should run to the side door.

Suddenly at the same time Gabriel and Azrael shouted "Now!" Jack and Lily ran to the door. She ran as fast as she could and halfway there she heard Gabriel's worried voice angrily shouting: "NO!" And the next moment, Lily was jerked backwards and Jack's hand disappeared from hers. Her breath caught as she saw that Jack was thrown by a vampire into the stone wall and he hit the hard ground unconscious and then her throat was grabbed. She tried to free herself of her tormentor's iron grip, but with every movement she made, the pain in her arm became greater and a grief-stricken gasp escaped her. She had to watch that vampire slowly turn on Jack.

The next moment she was turned around by the vampire who held her in an excruciatingly tight grip and she was sure she would hear at any moment the crack of her arm. His silvery-white eyes were staring at her carotid artery and a split second later, his fangs pierced into her neck. The pain was immediate. An unbearable pain. In contrast Azrael´s bite had been a caress. Tears sprang to her eyes and she could not suppress a cry of pain. She felt the strange and violent vampire greedily sucking her blood from her veins. He did not bother to make the bite to be comfortable for victims. And why? This vampire wanted to kill. It was not about a voluntary blood donation. No, he wanted her blood. Lily tried to fight back, but she was trapped in his iron grip and could not get free.

Her eyelids became heavy and closed slowly. Only dimly did, she still notice the fighting around her. And suddenly the pain was gone from her neck and from her arms. She felt that a hand carefully and gently slid around her waist and her knees and the next moment she lost the ground under her feet. Someone was carrying her. Struggling against this weariness, she forced her eyes open. She had to see who it was. Although her feelings told her that she was safe, she had to know. Gabriel. It was Gabriel, who carried her. She did not know where she got the power because her arms and legs felt heavy and they did not really want to obey, but she put her arms around Gabriel's neck and pressed herself against him. The old vampire responded to Lily´s gesture by hugging her tighter.

In Lily's head the final minutes replayed and a bitter cold feeling ran through her. Where was Jack? What happened to Jack? Jack!

"Jack?" Lily asked shakily, hoping for good news. He just had to be okay. Nothing might be happened to him. He was her guardian angel. What would she do without him?

"He's fine," Gabriel said and Lily breathed in relief. "He only has a laceration on his head."

Apparently they had achieved their goal, because Gabriel leaned down now, and Lily felt something soft under her. But she didn´t want to let go of him. She could not. She still needed his nearness and his security. She needed him. Lily was terrified of her own feelings. What was going on with her? But she also didn´t want to think about it further, she wanted to enjoy this moment. Slowly, Gabriel´s arms let go of her and she still continued to cling to him, her arms around his neck. She did not want to lose this closeness now. She was just not ready for it. Gabriel's hands were on Lily's arms and he tried very gently to disengage her grip. But Lily did not let go. It would not have been a problem for Gabriel to shed Lily's embrace. He did not, but his arms now wrapped around Lily's waist and she could have burst with joy. Her mind told her that she should actually feel different now, especially with what she had just experienced. She always felt protected and secure with Jack, but in comparison the feeling that she had now and had never felt so strongly in Gabriel's presence before, was overwhelming. She was home.

Lily had vehemently fought against this feeling of tiredness, but now it came back with a vengeance and slowly her eyes closed. Her arms sank down slowly. Just before she fell into a deep sleep, she felt a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Lily did not know how long she had been asleep, when she opened her eyes and discovered she was in her room. It was dark again or still dark? She looked around her room and found out that she was alone. Too quickly she swung her legs out of bed and straightened up. Immediately she felt dizzy. This had had to be because of the high blood loss. She clutched at her head, took a few deep breaths and then stood up slowly. It worked. The dizziness was gone.

Pictures of the attack ran through her mind's eye and she automatically reached for her neck. Lily could feel the two puncture points and the dried blood that was there. She went to the closet and brought out of her bag a small mirror. She breathed deeply, as she looked. Her neck was covered with dried blood and a few strands of hair were also glued to it with blood. She looked down at herself. Her dress was also splattered in blood. She looked terrible.  
After she had washed off the blood and put on a new dress, she made her way to find the others and to get something to eat, because she had a ravenous hunger and thirst, her mouth was very dry.

On the way to her living room she met Agatha, who greeted her with a smile. "Lily, I'll get you something to eat. Do you want to have it in your favorite room?" Agatha said, and Lily nodded. Lily walked into the room and sat down at the small table. No one was here. It did not take long and Agatha was there with the food once more. It felt so good to have something in her stomach and the jug of water, which Agatha had put on the table was empty in no time. Now she felt much better.

Just where were all the others? She should have asked Agatha. Determinedly, she rose from her chair and went to the great hall, maybe they were all there. As Lily walked into the large room, it was empty at first glance. Burning torches on the walls and candles provided a small light so there must have been someone here a short time ago.

Lily turned around and was about to leave the room when she heard rattling chains and a deep voice: "Well, who do we have here? The little girl with the rare blood."

Lily's heart began beating faster now and fear spread in her heart. Slowly she turned back and saw the vampire, who wanted to kill her a few hours ago. Iron shackles that were attached to thick, heavy chains and were set into the stone wall were encircling his wrists. The vampire had noticed Lily's look at his shackles and jerked at the chains not with vampire strength, but rather with the strength of a man. Lily shuddered and immediately backed away a bit.  
The prisoner began to laugh. He seemed to enjoy making Lily fear him. Seconds later Gabriel, Azrael, Diann and Jack entered the hall through another door. Immediately, their eyes were on Lily, who stood rooted in the middle of the room. 

"Lily," Jack began, and hurried to her, "I thought you were still asleep." 

Lily could not speak. Why was this vampire here? Why was he in chains? There should be no problem for him to tear the chains out the wall. Azrael interpreted correctly the quizzical expression on Lily's face and gave her an answer to her unspoken question. 

"Lily, we are interrogating him and the shackles are covered with silver, which weakens him." 

Lily was sure that an interrogation would not be the only thing to happen, and Jack seemed to have the same view, because he wanted to accompany her out of the room. 

"Hey little one, you're not going to go already? Don´t you want to give me a little sample of your rare blood?" The vampire said with a mocking laugh and the next moment he was flying with such force against the stone wall that small cracks formed in the stones and small stone chips fell out. He fell unconscious to the ground, but seconds later he just shook his head and stood up again. Gabriel glared at him with angry eyes and his voice took on a frightening, threatening tone, when he spoke. 

"You seem to be unaware of where you are and who you're dealing with. You should make your choice of words to us more carefully." 

Lily felt a shiver down the spine. She had no fear of Gabriel, even if he spoke with this voice and he wasn´t even addressing her, but she knew that there were consequences if he said this and in this case it was certain that they would be fatal.

"We can do it the hard way or easy way", Gabriel continued, after a short break. "Who are you and what do you want?"

The vampire paused and grinned sardonically. Gabriel struck him again against the wall.  
"You cannot do that forever, you will crack the wall," Diann said drily to Gabriel. 

Azrael went to the table and Lily noticed that there were instruments and tools on it. If Lily could see things properly from the distance, there were knives and other similar items. Why hadn´t Lily already left the room? She could not and would not have to deal with this. First she had clear some things within herself. But no matter what this vampire had done or wanted to do and no matter what they wanted to know from him and what information he could give them, they had no right to torture him. Torture was barbaric and uncivilized. It violated human rights, in which Lily also included all the vampires automatically.

Lily pulled away from Jack and marched up to Azrael, who had just selected one of these instruments of torture and was on his way to the prisoner. She stood in the way of Azrael, who looked puzzled and said firmly to him. "He has rights and torture is wrong." 

The vampire laughed mockingly and Azrael only asked: "What?" 

Lily did not think. Only her sense of justice spoke out of her. "It violates human rights!" 

"Hear! Hear!" The vampire said arrogantly, "she knows how to behave towards the VDM. But you must mean vampire rights, but for this little stupid error, I'll forgive you. You are after all only an human and a woman." 

Lily angrily pulled air into her lungs. That bastard! She was here to defend his rights and he insulted her. 

"VDM?", Gabriel asked curiously, "what does VDM mean?" 

Again the chained vampire fell silent. Jack had reached Lily and gave her an admonishing look. 

"If there are roman numerals, it will be the number 495. But I rather think that it is an abbreviation," Azrael spoke his thoughts out loud. 

Jack's face reflected a thoughtful look. He muttered: "VDM." Lily asked if Jack had ever heard of this abbreviation. "Lily, come on," Jack said softly, she let him pull her along. 

Minutes later they were in Jack's room. Jack seemed to wrestle with it and finally blurted out.  
"I have my laptop here. I did not know where we would end up ...", Jack made a short pause, "on the laptop is an encyclopedia about the Order and everything that has to do with it. There are only brief explanations of the various things, but it will help us further..." 

"Well, then let's look. Or is maybe the battery dead?"

"No, I had the battery charged just before we fled, and it has not been turned on since." Jack took a deep breath. "Lily, you have to stand in front of the door and make sure that nobody comes inside here. No one from this time period should see a computer." Lily nodded understandingly. She knew that Jack would tell her everything. She was sure. So she quickly went from Jack's room and stood in front of the door. Alternately, she looked right and left down the hallway.

Minutes passed and Gabriel and Azrael suddenly appeared in the hallway. Lily knocked on the door, but Jack did not come or say anything. Maybe it was too quiet. But before Lily could give any other warning, the two vampires stood in front of her.

Gabriel looked thoughtful and finally said, "Why are you standing here in front of Jack's bedroom door?" 

"Why not?" Lily retorted loudly. She knew that vampires knew, if you lied. So what should she say? 

"Why are you screaming?" Azrael asked. 

Gabriel's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Where is Jack?" Lily just shrugged his shoulders. 

"Let me pass, Lily," the old vampire said encouragingly. Lily put her hands against the door frame, blocking his way. "No!" 

"Well, then I'll just move you out of the way." And with that he grabbed Lily and placed her carefully next to the entrance. Lily cried out in Jack's direction. "Gabriel and Azrael are coming in!" 

Lily followed the two vampires and gave Jack an apologetic look. "I think the walls are simply too thick," she added. 

Lily looked around. Everything seemed to be, as always. Only on the table, a cloak was thrown over an object. It could have been anything underneath, but Lily knew and recognized the shape, that there was the opened laptop. 

"He just wants to talk to Lily," she heard Gabriel saying. "Jack, Azrael and I wanted to ask you, what do you think?" 

"Why don´t you ask me directly, Gabriel?", Lily interrupted furiously into the conversation. 

Gabriel turned to Lily. "Lily, I would have also asked you directly. But I wanted to know beforehand what Jack thought about it." 

"I can decide for myself," she blurted out. 

"No, no way will Lily go near him again," Jack answered the question, ignoring Lily. At first, Lily wanted to say something about it, but decided to wait, for she remembered suddenly that Jack had more information. He knew what or who were VDM. 

Lily did not notice that Azrael watched her as she walked slowly to the little table, and Gabriel and Jack were talking. Lily sat on the chair and, fortunately, the cloak was just barely covering the laptop so that she could now see the screen. Jack was probably in a hurry and couldn´t hide it better or he did not know. 

"Gabriel, VDM stands for Veri Mundi Domini," Jack said now. Of course, once again Latin, but that was normal for this time, Lily looked on the screen and saw in black letters the meaning: The real masters of the world. 

"How do you know that, Jack?" Gabriel asked now. 

Azrael stood directly in front of the little table, and Lily looked up at him. "Why have you sat down here," the wise vampire said and leaned on the table to be on the same level with Lily. He touched the cloth and the cloak slipped. Lily's reaction was too slow to grab the piece of material that slid down.

"Oops," Lily said apologetically in Jack's direction and Azrael eyed the back of the black laptop and then became interested and asked: "Is this thing such a thing as this little thing from which came the music?" 

"Yes, it´s something like that," Lily said and then continued addressed to Jack: Jack, I'm sorry. I just wanted ... " 

"... you wanted to know what it is," Jack completed her sentence. "You showed Azrael an MP3 player?" 

"Yes. Azrael helped me clean up and then it got somehow into his hands. But I had not said what it was called. You've now done that," Lily said defensively. 

"Just explain it, Jack," Gabriel said to him. "How do you know?" 

Jack took a deep breath and thought hard. "There are books in which history or other things are recorded in detail and there are dictionaries in which there are only brief descriptions of terms." 

Gabriel interrupted him impatiently. "Jack, I know what can be found in books." 

"Gabriel, you wanted to have an explanation and I was not ready yet," Jack responded irritably. "In this case, the thing which is sitting in front of Lily, contains an encyclopedia about the Order and everything that has to do with it. So I know it. And please do not ask me how it works, because I cannot… I would have to tell you so many other things ..." Jack said, in a conciliatory tone. 

Gabriel nodded understandingly. "And what else is there about VDM?" 

"I do not know if I can tell you," Jack said evasively. 

Pensive silence enveloped the room and Lily's eyes again fell on the screen. It was really not a long entry and only a short text was under the name of the group. 

"Jack?" Lily spoke in fear, "there are our names." 

"I know, Lily," came from Jack. 

"Maybe this is now complicated. You two have come in the past and your names appear in an encyclopedia entry, although fate travelers should not be recorded in writing. Especially not with your name." Azrael paused shortly, "what if this is the reason why you're here. Maybe we should all know this entry, so that we can be more successful?"

Jack nodded understandingly and Gabriel agreed. "Jack, what's in this record?" 

"I cannot memorize it ... I've just skimmed it briefly," Jack replied. 

"I just read it," Lily said and decided to do it without permission, she began to read aloud. "Veri Mundi Domini (The true masters of the world). Vampiric organization that aimed to reign over the people and had a fondness for rare blood groups. Probably founded around 1200. Defeated 1209. Very few facts known.  
Leaders of the organization: Deodatus, Denalo.  
Persons who defeated the VDM:  
O: Catharina Bonengel, Ferdinand Paladin  
V: Sullivan, Fido, Thiann  
E1: Diann, Svafa Vanadis, Albin Hamingja,  
E2: Gabriel, Count of Everstein, Azrael, Lily Bonengel, Jack Paladin. 

Lily looked up and stared at Gabriel and Azrael in disbelief. Nobody said anything. So, Lily decided to break the silence and she had questions also. "Okay, I'm in here with Bonengel, but it is now, more or less my name. Only, it really is a remarkable order of the names. So V might stand for Vampire... But what are the other abbreviations?"

Lily received no response. "And does that mean that we will be here at least a year, Jack? We are now in 1208 and 1209 is written here!" Still no answer. Lily was furious. At least they could say something.

Gabriel cleared his throat and said: "Could you repeat the entry of E2 again?" He could not be serious. Lily really had to suppress her anger, and try not to shout. 

"Gabriel, you heard it right. I've also read it," Jack said. 

Lily did not know once again what they meant, and apparently they did not even want to explain it. Or maybe the time had now come that she would learn everything about the Order? 


	26. Northern Lights

**Hi my dear readers! Thanks for your reviews. I appreciate it very much. I hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think.**

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54 (Jat, thank you so much for your help. Feel hugged.)**

**26. Northern Lights  
**  
_**"A sign of the presence of the Valkyries on earth is, when the moonlight reflects in the golden armor, and appears again in the night sky as a light - The Northern Lights."**_

_**Viking saying (slightly altered)**_

_Alexander Vanadis sat in the garden and leafed through an old book, when Lily sat down next to him in a garden chair smiling.  
"What kind of book is that?" she blurted out curiously.  
"Only an old book, Lily," Alexander evaded the question from his daughter and set the book aside.  
Naturally, Lily wasn´t content with an evasive answer, but she was here for another reason. She wanted to ask him something which wouldn´t be easy. Lily took a deep breath, pulled herself together and plunged ahead.  
"Mom told me that you want to throw a party for my High School Graduation and I think that it would be a great opportunity to invite my grandparents."  
Alexander did not reply immediately, but looked at her thoughtfully. Finally he said: "Lily, I think that would not be a good idea."  
"But Dad, why not? They are, after all my grandparents and my only other relatives. Mom has no relatives anymore ...", Lily broke off. How could she explain it? All her friends had relatives who they regularly met and especially at the holidays. They met and spent quality time with each other. Lily knew that many of her friends took their grandparents to the graduation celebration. Lily only had her parents. Although there were a few friends of her parents, who she considered to be members of her family but they weren´t real relatives.  
Alexander looked at his daughter with understanding, but only shook his head.  
"Dad, you told me you've fallen out with them and ... I also understand that you don´t get along with each other, but I think they might want to share my life because I am her granddaughter. And perhaps there is also a possibility that you could reconcil", Lily tried again.  
Alexander had lowered his gaze and stared thoughtfully at the old book. Lily followed his gaze and looked at the cover. On the front of the book was a symbol that Lily had never seen before. It looked like as if three half moons were intertwined with each other and around them were arranged in a circle were six white gems. Under this symbol were written words. Lily had to strain her eyes to read the faded writing from the distance. Vanadis, Hamingja, Kenan, Finley, Paladin, Bonengel. Lily furrowed her brow quizzically. Since when did a book title consist of surnames?  
"Dad, what kind of book is this?" Lily asked the question again. And she hoped to get an answer this time.  
Alexander turned his attention to Lily, who looked at him expectantly. He seemed to wrestle with himself whether he should tell her or not. "A family register," was his short answer.  
"Really? About our family?" Lily asked excitedly. "May I look?"  
Without saying a word, he reluctantly gave her the book. Lily took it and opened it. Lily leafed through the first few pages. There were listed names without dates or birthplaces, but the names always seemed to be repeated. Finally, there also appeared birth dates and birthplaces. But it seemed to be incomplete, at least the information from the Middle Ages. Lily finally found her own name. Then followed a couple of blank pages, apparently, the families were ordered as they were listed on the book cover. It was a little boring to read over again the same names but suddenly she came upon a name which interested Lily. It stepped out of line with this family. It was weird that there was no data and no birth or death dates listed, although other names were provided on this page with them. There was another reason why it caught her eye. It was her own first name: Lilian. Until now Lily had only found this name once in the whole book, when she read her entry. The name now was Lilian Bonengel and something else attracted her attention. She had seen it before behind other names, but now she wanted to know what this M meant._

At that time, Lily got no response from her father. He just stood up and walked into the house, without saying another word. Lily knew now why behind the name Lilian Bonengel there appeared no data. Years ago she had read that name and wondered about it and now she knew she was the one who was listed there by that name. Jack had told her that a rune that looks like an M stood for the mysterious alliance Ehwaz. A strange feeling spread through her. It was odd to read something in a record book or a family register, although it hadn´t happened yet. In any case it hadn't happened for Lily. The strange feeling got stronger because she knew so little about it.  
Lily stared at the screen of the laptop. This lexicon could certainly give her some answers, but she did not want to waste the battery unnecessarily. Perhaps they would still need this little computer. In this room were three people who could tell her everything much better. So Lily clicked on the little bottom "turn off" and a short time later she heard a short melody, which announced that the laptop was shutting down at any moment.  
Of course she attracted Gabriel´s and Azrael´s attention with this unusual sound. Lily closed the laptop, took a deep breath and said: "This E stands for Ehwaz, doesn´t it?"  
Jack nodded and stepped closer to Lily. "O stand s for member of the Order and the V stands for vampire. Lily, before we talk about it, we should first talk about the Order."  
"Good, go on," Lily said with emphasis. Out of the corner of her eye Lily saw how Azrael remained rather uncharacteristically silent and thoughtful on his place and every now and then began to say something, but then stopped himself. What was the matter with him?  
Jack sat down on his bed. "In the past not only men fought in the Germanic or also Celtic tribes to ensure their survival, but also the women. Among these women, there were female warriors, who were very good at the art of combat. It is said that these women were idols for the mythological Valkyrie and that they would be directly descended from the gods. I do not know when the Order was founded, but at some point, these warriors have joined together in an Order and were under the protection of the gods." Jack paused.  
"It sounds convincing, but about the gods ..." Lily began and was interrupted by Gabriel.  
"That's right. Well, they were not real gods. They only believed they were gods. Jack, go on."  
Lily stared at Gabriel. Did he tell the truth a few days ago, when he said he had insider knowledge of the gods? In her mind an idea was forming. Were these gods vampires? Did they still exist? Were these so-called gods are still among them? But Gabriel had spoken of them in the past tense. Had Gabriel just behaved this way because she had hit the bull's eye and he did not want to tell her at that moment?  
"There were also male offspring, who performed a protective role towards the Valkyries from the beginning. They were warriors, too. The Order should have been a link between the Council of the Gods, the humans and the vampires. The gods ruled and the Order provided for the observance of the laws. Since the Order members were humans, they needed the support of the vampires in order to provide for law and order", Jack went on to explain.  
"And so this alliance Ehwaz was created," Lily added and Jack nodded.  
"Lily," Jack said kindly and apologetically, "actually you already know the most laws and rules of the Order. They are not very different from the current laws. And I must confess that I do not know all. In our time it just doesn´t play an important role anymore." Jack paused and breathed deeply. "Only what is important now is that you, no matter how hard it is, have to obey the hierarchy within the Order."  
"What exactly do you mean, Jack?" Lily had to insist strongly.  
"It's kind of like the aristocratic hierarchy. First there is the king and then follow in a certain order all the other nobles. The Royal Family in the Order is the family Vanadis followed by Hamingja, Kenan, Finley, Paladin, Bonengel and other families." It was exactly the order which she read on the book cover.  
"Lily, truthfully you are a Vanadis and you're on the same level as Svafa, but because they think that you're a Bonengel, you stand in the hierarchy below her, and you may get commands that you are required to follow."  
Lily nodded understandingly. It made no sense in arguing over it. It seemed to be an immutable fact, now you could not change that, but Lily was clear that something had to change it in their time. Jack had told her that the laws were still in their time the same. It was time that democracy got into the Order and the monarchical structures were abolished.  
"Jack, are all families in the Order descended from gods?" Lily said thoughtfully.  
"Yes," was Jack's terse response.  
"But why is my family first?" Lily hooked.  
"I do not know exactly," Jack admitted. "Perhaps because of the Vanadis are descended from Freya and she had a high position in the divine hierarchy. She was also the leader of the Valkyries, and some symbols of her are also symbols of the Valkyries. The runic character for the Order is also one of her runes. When Freya went into battle, she supposedly wore a falcon robe." Jack had to smile. "Out of it became the story that the Valkyries wore a swan robe. Therefore they are also known as swan maidens. If you look at the rune from another perspective, it could also be a swan. Some illustrations show Freya and the Valkyries with white wings, reminiscent of the wings of an angel. In the mythology, the Valkyries choose the brave warriors who died on the battlefield, which were brought to Valhalla. So they are also known as angel of death. And somehow it´s true that the Valkyries are also angels of death. They bring the vampires and sometimes people the death penalty, if they performed an unforgivable violation of the laws. The rune Elhaz also stands for death." Jack paused for a moment.  
Lily had to take a deep breath. It was really a lot of information at once and she knew that there would come more.  
"Another thing is that Valkyries are supposed to have a deep connection to cats, because Freya's chariot was drawn by cats," Jack added doubtfully.  
"Not by cats. By lions!" Gabriel corrected Jack. Lily saw that Jack turned his head in puzzlement at Gabriel. Lily was sure now that Gabriel knew these gods and they were probably vampires. There was a moment of silence, but then Jack continued.  
"Lily, I had told you that the men of the Order are called Fylgjur and they are more or less protective spirits. Or perhaps we should rather say guardian angel. I do not know when this saying originated." Jack looked at Gabriel and then to Azrael. "It means that the Alliance Ehwaz consists of an archangel, a death angel and a guardian angel. And these three angels combined provide law and order."  
"I haven´t heard this saying before," Gabriel said thoughtfully.  
"Jack, you told me that Valkyries are special women. Does this refer particularly to the fact that we are descended from so-called gods?" Lily could not resist rolling her eyes when she said the word gods.  
"Maybe Lily, I don´t know. I just don´t know what makes us different from other people. And it also seems to be nothing", Jack gave back.  
"You do not know?" Gabriel asked surprised, Jack shook his head.  
"You know, right?" Lily directed her question to Gabriel, who gave only a nod in response.  
"And?" Lily asked impatiently.  
"There are two different groups of offspring. One group, the Valkyries and the other the servi sanguinis", Gabriel began and Lily had to interrupt him once again because he used a Latin term.  
"What does servi sanguinis mean?" The answer didn´t come from Gabriel but from Jack.  
"In our time they are called sangsujets and it means more or less 'subjects of the blood'."  
"Subjects of the blood?" Lily said asking, not reacting favorably. This term was just terrible and it reinforced her suspicions even more that these gods were vampires.  
"Jack, you seem not to know much and have not learned many things. But you know this? That surprises me", Gabriel said ignoring Lily.  
"I just know that they exist and that it is forbidden for the members of the Order to marry sangsujets or to have children with them. Why? No idea", Jack answered his question.  
"Why are the offspring was divided into two groups," Lily asked now.  
"Actually, the servi sanguinis could also be Valkyries. They have many similarities. But they differ on one point, prompting the gods at that time to make two groups, one group became subjects and the other one warriors."  
"And what is the difference?" Lily asked.  
"Perhaps I should explain first, what makes you special. Not all members of the Order get these special abilities from their ancestors. If you have these abilities you can´t be turned into a vampire. When they come into contact with vampire blood, they get certain skills, which otherwise only a vampire has. Persons who don´t have the ability can still have children who possess this ability again and they can be turned into a vampire," Gabriel said and looked closely at Lily.  
"And what kinds of abilities are these?" Lily asked when Gabriel paused for a moment.  
"You would age more slowly, you would immediately recognize a vampire, you could see the quick movements of the vampires and your wounds heal faster. But you were still a human."  
"Okay," Lily said hesitantly.  
"If a servi sanguinis has the condition and comes into contact with vampire blood, it either causes that person to become ill and die from it or they also receive these abilities."  
"So the difference is that someone could die from the other group and the Valkyries don´t?" Lily persisted. She didn´t want to use this pejorative term.  
"Yes, that too."  
Lily only frowned asking and wanting of an explanation. Gabriel took a deep breath and seemed to think about what he told her now.  
"There is something like a cure. It makes it possible for vampires to turn back into humans for a short time. The blood of the servi sanguinis, who have these conditions, is an integral part of this cure. There is something in their blood, which doesn´t occur in the blood of the Valkyries. It does not work with your blood." Gabriel gave her an explanation. That was really a lot of information for Lily to think about it.  
"What exactly is this alliance?" Lily asked curiously.  
"The alliance Ehwaz is an alliance between a vampire, a Valkyrie and a guardian that ensure the observance of the law. The Valkyries and the guardians have both the aforementioned abilities of a vampire", the old vampire gave a brief explanation.  
"Therefore was it possible for Albin and Svafa to fight against vampires?" Lily asked to get a confirmation of her suspicions.  
"Yes, Diann has taught them to fight against vampires," Gabriel confirmed.  
"And what is a master?" was Lily's next question. She had to take advantage of this opportunity, since they were so willing to give answers. She didn´t feel good. She apparently had only slept a few hours and her blood loss had made her still weak. It took a while for the body to replace the missing blood again.  
"In the alliance the vampire is called master because he is the leader of this small group and the teacher. The Valkyrie is called student and the guardian only very rarely is called student, most of the time he is just called a guardian." Gabriel finally gave her an answer to the question.  
Until now Azrael had stayed completely out of the conversation. His voice sounded agitated and confused, when he asked his question to Gabriel. "This alliance consists of three persons. But the alliance in the lexicon consists of four people. You, Lily, Jack and me! Was it a mistake or ... or ..."  
"Normally, the alliance consists of a vampire, a Valkyrie and her guardian. But it may be that some alliances have only a vampire and a Valkyrie or a guardian. This happens even more often, because a Valkyrie or a guardian have to decide for themselves whether they want it or not. A guardian or a Valkyrie can´t compel the other one to enter into the alliance. But sometimes there is a very, very rare that an alliance composed of more than three people. I've only seen it once in my life," Gabriel said, but it didn´t calm Azrael. He was still nervous.  
There was a sudden silence in the room. Lily turned her head to Azrael and saw that his lips moved, but she heard nothing. Lily wanted to say something about the fact that the two vampires were excluding Jack and Lily from their conversation, but Jack put his hand on Lily's shoulder. "Lily, I think Azrael just has to talk with Gabriel alone to digest this knowledge."  
"What knowledge?" Lily asked naively.  
"We, you, Gabriel, Azrael and me will enter an alliance in the near future," Jack replied her almost gently.  
At that moment, Lily was aware of what she had read a couple of minutes ago. Suddenly she could understand Azrael. The feeling that came over her, she could not really describe it. It had to happen, because it was written. Did Lily still have her free will? Lily wouldn´t become warrior. She didn´t want to fight against vampires, and certainly not cause anyone's death.  
"No," Lily said firmly, "it will not happen."  
So Lily had the attention of the vampires again. Gabriel took a deep breath, walked up to Lily and asked her gently: "What will not happen?"  
"This alliance. I am not a warrior. I cannot fight and I will not learn how. And I won´t kill anyone," Lily said in despair.  
"Lily, fate brought you and Jack together. Because there is this rule of the Order, whose guardian become whose Valkyrie, you are both very special. You both can feel it if the other one is in danger. This only happens when fate brings together a Valkyrie and her guardian. Fate has brought you both here, so that you both met me and Azrael. Lily, no matter what is in this lexicon, fate wants us to enter into this alliance. I did not know that Azrael would be a part of it, too. That has really surprised me earlier and I did not know what to say." Gabriel paused for a moment.  
"But Azrael has exactly the same feeling towards you two as I do. He couldn´t grasp the idea exactly. And I should also say something else, Lily. We have become friends and it has nothing to do with the alliance or that fate wants us to enter into the alliance. Alliances that had been formed before even with fate on their side, were not necessarily among friends. Lily, you'll not be able to do anything about it. You cannot change the past. For us it is still the future, but not for the person who wrote this lexicon," Gabriel said kindly in explanation.  
"You said that everyone must decide for himself and no one can force you. I have my free will and I will enforce it," Lily told him bitterly.  
Gabriel ignored Lily's statement. "Lily, there are laws for the alliance that are different from the rules of the Order..."  
Lily interrupted Gabriel rudely. "I don´t want to know, because it's not for me."  
Gabriel pressed his lips together briefly and then said in a friendly voice: "The law states that a master can only ask a Valkyrie once, the question of whether she wants to enter the alliance. Only once, Lily."  
"It does not matter how many times you ask me, my answer will always be the same," Lily said convincingly.  
"Lily, fate wants it this way," Gabriel said with emphasis.  
"It does not interest me, what fate wants," Lily replied defiantly.  
"Well," began Jack, "I know a few laws of the alliance, but not all."  
"Neither I do, Jack," Azrael said.  
Gabriel took a deep breath. "It looks like we do not have much time. Normally it takes years before a Valkyrie and a guardian are ready to fight against vampires, and according to this record, we will have already beaten this organization by next year. This means that we´ll surely fight against them this year and we have all ready begun so a few hours ago." Gabriel paused again.  
"Jack, can you fight? I mean, can you handle the sword," the old vampire asked.  
"Yes, I can."  
"Good. So, the most important laws are:  
1st Secrecy. This means that if you tell anyone about the existence of vampires and the Valkyries it is only to people who have knowledge of us.  
2nd Our task is to take care that the vampiric and laws of the Order. In cases of violation, we have the right to punish.  
3rd Protecting each other.  
4th If the alliance was signed, it can be dissolved only by death.  
5th It is forbidden for a vampire to drink the blood of a Valkyrie or a guardian without permission. Only the master has the right to drink without permission from of the Valkyrie and the guardian, which are members of the alliance. It also serves as a punishment."

" I know these laws," Jack said.

Lily had heard the laws, but they didn´t interest her at the moment. She was angry because rules of the Alliance made decisions over their minds and precipitated a major decision about their lives. Not by Jack, Azrael and Gabriel, no, it was someone else's rules and the three of them were trapped inside as well. She hated it.

Gabriel turned to Lily and said gently, but also determinedly. "Lily, do you have any questions?" Lily shook her head stubbornly. Why should she know everything about this alliance if she would not enter into it. She did not need to know more about it. She knew what it was.

"I have a question," Jack said hesitantly.

Gabriel turned his head to Jack and encouraged him with his gaze to ask the question.

"How will the alliance be closed?"

"Very briefly, we drink your blood and you drink our blood," came a brief explanation of Gabriel.

"Never," was the immediately outraged response by Lily, but also fear was clear in her voice. The idea that no matter what she would be bitten again by a vampire, created in Lily a terrifying feeling. She could still feel the pain of the bite. It was still so present in her memory that she could not even remember Azrael's bite. And about the fact that she should drink blood, she could not even think about right now. The fear ruled her. Only deep in her subconscious, the thought of drinking blood made her ill.

"Lily, I'll give you one week. Then I'll ask you," Gabriel said in determination coolly. He didn´t seem to have noticed that Lily's statement had nothing to do with this ritual, or anything to do with the alliance, but with her terrible experience with the vampire who was down in the big hall still being interrogated by Diann. It was not Lily's stubbornness speaking of her, but her fear. Fear of a vampire bite. Azrael seemed to have sensed her fear and interpreted it correctly.

Azrael wanted to stop Gabriel by saying, "Gabriel, do not say it!" It came too late. Gabriel had already spoken. The Assassin was sitting next to Lily, turned her head carefully, so she would look into his eyes and said with a reassuring voice, "Lily, I promise you that it will not hurt. I would never hurt you."

Lily heard Gabriel saying: "Shit!" Seconds later he was standing next to Lily on the other side of her and went into a crouch, took her hand and squeezed it lightly. "Lily, I'm so incredibly sorry that I was not faster." Lily looked at Gabriel. It was not his fault. He could not be everywhere at the same time and he had rescued her. He was still there in time, before it was too late. Lily wanted to say something, but she could not speak. Only her eyes told Gabriel that it was not his fault and that she was grateful that he had rescued her.

Then her eyes wandered to Jack, who chafed guilty circling his foot on the floor and looking down. Jack could have done nothing. "Jack," Lily said in a shaky voice, "don´t blame yourself. You could not change it."

"I have ...", Jack stammered," ... I should have known that we are not quick enough ... I should ... "

"Jack, don´t," Lily said sympathetically. "We're okay."

Lily felt, when Gabriel tenderly put her hair back in order to have a clear view of her neck. Her heart began to beat faster automatically. She knew that Gabriel wouldn´t hurt her, but she could not resist it, and winced slightly when Gabriel touched the spot with the bite marks.

"Lily," began the old vampire, "I promise you that I'm not going to hurt you." And he said something quietly to himself "That should not have happened." Then he got up and left the room.

"Wh .. where is he going?" Lily asked confused, looking at Azrael.

"To finish what he started," Azrael said mysteriously.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked confused.

Azrael took a deep breath. "Lily, we thought, when we told you that you should start running, it would be safe. We just hadn't seen the two vampires." Azrael shook his head guiltily. "We thought we'd come too late. To see Jack, as he was thrown against the wall by a vampire and you ..." Azrael did not finish the sentence, but you could hear the pain in his voice.

Azrael took another deep breath. "Even before the vampire could reach Jack again, I killed him. Gabriel had no other choice than to ram a stake through the heart of the vampire who held you in his power. The risk was too great if he would have simply torn away him, that the vampire would have torn your neck. He gently detached him from you and let him fall to the ground and carried you inside. Diann said that it would be a good opportunity to interrogate him to find out more about this attack. And he was right."

"So he wants to continue to interrogate him now ...", Lily said, but inside she knew it was not the case.

Azrael shook his head. "Lily, this vampire violated our laws. He attacked an elder. All these vampires did when they attacked the castle. But for Gabriel and me the real offense is that he was going to kill you. There is only one punishment for that. It is death."

"Because I am a Valkyrie ...", Lily said absently.

"For the vampire society, his death is justified by the fact that he attacked an elder and a Valkyrie. But for us it is different. Someone tried to kill our friend and we cannot let it go unpunished," Azrael said honestly.

Lily did not know what to do. Her head spun and her emotions were a mess. Should she close her eyes or do something about it? Determined, she stood up to go to the door. She had to stop this. She could not let this vampire be killed because of her. But she did not get far. Azrael held her tight.

"Lily, you're not going to stop it. The vampire knew what he was doing. He knew the consequences. And if Gabriel does not do it, I'll do it. Even if you ask me not to do it, I promise you, he will die. Diann, Svafa and Albin will do their duty," the Assassin said sincerely.

Lily knew that Azrael told her the truth. The death penalty was already clear. The only question was when was the execution? 


	27. Pangs of Conscience

_**Hi my dear readers! **_

_**Finally I´m back with a new chapter. I´m sorry that it took so long. I just had no time to translate. But finally I could manage it. I hope you are still interested in my fanfiction. Let me know what you think of this chapter. **_

_**Thanks for your reviews. I appreciate them very much. And a big thank you to my dear beta-reader Jat. Feel hugged. **_

_**Enjoy reading!**_

_**Translated: Cleo28**_

_**Beta: Moonjat54**_

**27. Pangs of conscience**

Slowly and gently Gabriel stroked the dark brown strands of hair back, then he patted his fingers gently over the carotid artery. Seconds later, he bit cautiously. It didn´t take long and the dark-haired girl relaxed in his arms and moaned softly. The fresh blood trickled slowly down his throat and he felt his hunger subsided. After a while he pulled his fangs out of the wound, which he had inflicted and he licked his tongue over it briefly to get the blood drops that had scrolled off the two small points.

The dark-haired beauty walked with shaky legs toward the door. When she opened it, Azrael was standing there. Before he had even entered the room, he was already blurting out his concerns. "Gabriel, can I talk to you? I don´t think I'm able to be part of this alliance. I …"

Gabriel looked at Azrael and answered in a sympathetic voice: "Come in, Azrael." 

The old vampire could feel his doubts and his self-consciousness. He was young and measured by his age he didn´t have the experience which a master needed, but Azrael already had the skills. He was an excellent fighter and would certainly be able to pass on his skills.

His intelligence and his thirst for knowledge would be helpful in this task. For his young age he had already attained a remarkable wisdom. While Azrael expressed his thoughts and feelings, he walked restlessly up and down.

"I know that you can´t change the past, which is still the future for us, but there must simply be a mistake. I can´t. I'm not a master. I can´t carry this responsibility. Lily and Jack don´t deserve that!"

Gabriel looked thoughtfully at his protégé. "Azrael, normally you don´t have such self-doubts." 

Azrael made no reply, but only drew a sharp breath. Gabriel went up to him and laid a fatherly hand on his shoulder. "You have everything that makes a good master. You have the knowledge, the sense of justice, the experience of combat and empathy. You will be a good master." 

Azrael took a deep breath. "Maybe you're right, but ..."

"But you're not sure," Gabriel completed his sentence. Azrael nodded in agreement.

"But if I make mistakes, it also affects Lily and Jack. And they would suffer. I cannot allow it", Azrael continued uncertainly.

"Azrael, there is never a one hundred percent guarantee. Everyone makes mistakes, but that does not mean you're not up to it." The Assassin breathed deeply again.

"There's another thing...", Azrael started cautiously, "I'm worried about Lily."

Gabriel sighed in agreement. "Me too."

"She doesn´t accept it," the young vampire mused. Gabriel nodded thoughtfully and then said guiltily. "And I didn´t make it better."

"You shouldn´t have issued this ultimatum," Azrael said with a mild reproach in his voice, "you know that she can´t stand out it when you decide something without asking her."

"I didn´t decide it, Azrael," the old vampire explained himself. He didn´t. Fate had made that decision and they all would follow the path that destiny had planned for them. It was one thing to follow his destiny blindly and not knowing what to expect, but to know it was very different.

"I know, but you could talk to her more sensitively. She has experienced so many bad things in such a short time."

"I know, but it just made me so angry that she held on so stubborn that she didn´t want this alliance..." Gabriel tried to explain his actions.

The last few days Gabriel had thought about Lily. He knew he had acted wrongly. And now she punished him by not speaking to him anymore. He had tried to apologize several times each day, but she had just slammed the door in front of his face. She could be so damn stubborn.

"I talked to her," the Assassin said earnestly, "even if she were to agree to the alliance, which currently does appear like she will, she won´t let us bite her in any case."

"She knows that a vampire bite need not be painful," Gabriel added confidently, "she will ..."

Azrael interrupted him seriously. "No, she won´t. She has suppressed all memory of my bite. Speaking of my bite ... I ..." the Assassin hemmed and hawed.

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Azrael, she gave you her permission."

"Yeah, sure. But ..."

"No buts. She allowed it and so it is okay with me", the old vampire said sincerely.

"Okay ...", Azrael repeated doubtfully.

"To be honest, it didn´t bother me, Azrael. However, it bothers me when other vampires gain access forcibly to her blood," Gabriel said at first kindly and then swung to fury in his voice.

"Do you think that it has to do with the alliance?" Azrael had to ask.

Gabriel nodded. Gabriel would have preferred to let off his burgeoning rage on that vampire, who hurt Lily. But that was no longer possible. That vampire had been executed by his sword about a week ago.

Suddenly the Assassin changed the topic. "Jack and Lily will return to their time, right?"

Gabriel looked at the young vampire thoughtfully. "Yes, they will."

"Will the alliance still exist then, when we meet again in the future?" Azrael asked.

"Yes, only death can cancel the alliance."

"I've been wondering when their time is. I think it will be in a few centuries. Lily and Jack's views simply do not fit to the present time and I think that things will not change so quickly. And then there are the things they have ... which are simply incredible. When I held that thing making music in my hands, I did not even know how to respond and for Lily it was simply an object like any other. And then this strange case with a lexicon inside. Dictionaries are books made of paper and parchment, and not hidden in a black box," Azrael said excitedly, but also thirsty for knowledge.

"I would have loved to have been next to Lily's side to see what she saw," Gabriel confessed.

"Me too. Maybe we will get the chance," Azrael blurted out conspiratorially.

"Azrael, I can really understand your desire, but we cannot do that. I'd love to know more about their time, too. We already know far too much," Gabriel warned his protégé, but you could also hear his frustration. Gabriel really had to restrain himself to not start questioning Jack and Lily. However, currently this would not be necessary with Lily since she did not speak to him.

"I know," the Assassin sighed understandingly.

Gabriel's mind drifted back to Lily. His ultimatum would expire tomorrow. Would Lily be successful in changing the past, if she answered his question with a no? So far no one had been able to change the past. Gabriel had to shake his head at the thoughts in his head. He was already describing his future as the past. He needed to talk to her. Not only because of what was printed in that dictionary, but because he truly wanted to enter into this alliance and his conversation with Lily about this alliance had gone completely awry. If Lily did not really want to do this, he would not force her to or convince her she must. But still he would protect her, as if he were her master. He could not help it. He was already doing it.

Maybe he should not ask her, at least not tomorrow. Again he gave an inward shake of his head. He could not believe that he would take back the ultimatum only for her. But he did not want to jeopardize their friendship. And he hoped fervently that he had not destroyed it already, because at the moment it looked like he had. If he had the choice, he would give her all the time she needed to think carefully about whether she wanted this alliance. But they didn´t have much time. This organization was breathing down their necks. The last few days they had tried to find out more about the VDM, but had learned nothing.

In addition the inhabitants of the castle knew now that their castle lord was a vampire and not the only one. Surprisingly, they accepted it all, even Walter. He and Azreal had protected them, so they paid them thanks and Gabriel knew that not all of the residents believed the teachings of church towards vampires. They were still rooted too closely to their old customs. Only Walter gave him headaches. Although he had been reasonable for Lily's interview and was still acting loyal, he had to keep a close eye on him.

His thoughts jumped back to Lily. There was no way around it, Gabriel had to talk with Lily, whether she liked it or not. Completely forgetting Azrael he walked resolutely out of his room.

"Hey, where are you going?" the Assassin asked surprised.

"To Lily," was Gabriel's terse response.

On the way to Lily's bower, naturally, he had to end up meeting Walter whom he really didn´t want to deal with at the moment.

"Highness," the castellan said to him.

"Walter, I have no time right now. Can Your concerns wait?" Gabriel attempted to avoid a conversation with him.

"Your Highness, I just wanted to thank You that You still allow me despite my disobedience to marry and agreed to an immediate marriage," Walter said unusually submissive to Gabriel. Maybe their conversation helped a few days ago. But somehow Gabriel doubted that. He had just too quickly become submissive, especially now after he learned that his master was a vampire.

"It was my pleasure," Gabriel replied to him and continued on his way.

Now Gabriel stood for a few minutes in front of Lily's room. In his mind, he had gone through several approaches, how he should best begin this conversation, but none seemed to be appropriate. Tentatively, he raised his hand to knock on the door, but then took it back down. This mustn´t go wrong. He took a deep breath and then knocked firmly with commitment on Lily's door. Slowly her footsteps came closer and eventually she opened it, but when she saw Gabriel, she attempted to close the door again without a word. Only this time it didn´t work because Gabriel put his foot in the door column, and with his hands he held the door open.

Sincerely, the old vampire said: "Lily, I'm sorry."

For seemingly endless seconds nothing happened, but then Lily let go of the door and walked a little aside to let the old vampire in her room. He seemed having found the right words.

Gabriel came in, took a deep breath and said: "Lily, I'm really sorry that I issued this ultimatum. I did not want to offend you"

Apparently he had now chosen the wrong words, because she answered angrily. "But you did!" But at least she spoke to him that made him breathe easier internally.

"Lily,...um… I…", he began to stutter. Where were only his coolness and his all his life experiences? "... I take back the ultimatum. Just tell me if you want to…"

"If I want what?" Lily demanded immediately and glared at him angrily.

Gabriel knew he had to be careful now, which words he chose. "If you think you're ready to enter into the alliance."

"You just assume that I want to enter into the alliance, yes?" Lily said with an ironic and slightly angry-sounding tone. He had again chosen the wrong words.

"Lily, …"

"NO! I've already told you that I will not enter into this alliance. I am not a warrior and I do not want to become one. You just went over my head and decided for me. You make that mistake every time!" She shouted at him now.

Gabriel really wanted a calm talk with her about it, but apparently that was not possible. It made him incredibly angry. He had apologized to her and honestly taken back this ultimatum, and she thanked him this way?

"Lily", Gabriel began irritably, "we didn´t decide without asking you! It is truly a fact that fate has decided. I admit, we should have included you more. But that does not change the fact that we four will enter this alliance."

"You mean you three! Because I'm not going to," she gave back angrily.

"Lily, you cannot change the past," he replied coolly, and with emphasis.

"No, but I can decide my future!" Lily said firmly. "Maybe you will still be four! Let me know when you find Lily Bonengel!"

Gabriel shook his head. How could he make her just understand that he had not forced her but fate? If she hadn´t read that entry in the strange box aloud, they wouldn´t know this information and they would not have argued.

"Lily, a part of your future is already the past," he tried it and this time his voice was quiet and added with emphasis: "You're Lily Bonengel."

"But it's still my future," Lily insisted. "And I'm Lily Vanadis, not Bonengel!"

Why did she have to be so stubborn? Why could not she realize that it must be this way? Perhaps she was afraid. She had learned so much in a short time and she had so many questions. Gabriel could understand that she did not want to enter blindly into an alliance without answers to her questions.

"Lily, if you have any questions, no matter what, just ask me. I will answer them," Gabriel said quietly. But it made her even angrier. He simply didn´t understand her.

"Gabriel," she hissed furiously through tightened lips, "I have no questions, because I will never enter into this alliance!"

"Lily, please," Gabriel said with resignation. With her stubbornness, he would find her a hard nut to crack, just like ... Gabriel did not finish thinking the sentence.

"No, I made a decision," she said firmly, her arms crossed over her chest and continued to challenge him completely unconvinced, "All right, you can even ask me, then at least we get it over and done with."

Gabriel had really tried to be accommodating to her, but now he had had enough! "You can´t be serious!", He exclaimed angrily. The law stipulated that he was allowed to ask only once and the answer was binding. And suddenly he was not sure anymore if Lily would not manage to trick fate.

"However, I am!"

"Lily, if I ask this question and you give me an answer, no matter how it turns out, it is final. It cannot be taken back and I cannot ask you again," Gabriel said seriously trying to explain.

"Now, ask the question," Lily invited coolly, "I will finally have it behind me."

Gabriel did not know what it was, but with her request she had actually managed to make him so angry that he asked her the question without thinking. She was right, then the problem would be eliminated from the world.

"Lilian Vanadis, do you want to enter the Alliance Ehwaz with me?" Even before Gabriel had finished the question, he felt guilty and he deeply regretted his loss of control. What had he done? Out of anger, he had asked her. This shouldn´t have happened this way under any circumstances. And Gabriel was sure that he would hear the word no.

"Yes," Lily said, startling herself and immediately covered her hand over her mouth. Gabriel listened as her heart began to beat faster and felt how she got frightened because of her unexpected answer. Her body trembled slightly and her breathing was faltering.

Gabriel could not help it, he went up to her and took her in his arms. She allowed let it happen and accepted his gesture to give her the support, and wrapped her arms around his torso. Her head was leaning against his chest and through his shirt he could feel her warm breath. Finally she spoke in shock not wanting to believe what she has said: "I wanted to say no. My decision was no."

"I know," Gabriel said quietly. He really believed her. She didn´t lie. There were things in this world that could not be explained. It was clear that the past could not be changed and Lily had to learn that now. He wished he could turn back time and not have asked the question but to just have avoided it and asked at another time.

"But now I have said yes," she said with a shaky voice and Gabriel noticed that she was crying.

Minutes passed without either of them saying a word. Lily broke away slowly from his embrace and looked at him with teary, glassy eyes. "Does the ... other thing... uh ... have to happen now?"

Gabriel shook his head and answered her softly, "No." The old vampire now noticed that he tenderly wiped her tears from her face.

"And when? Um ... is there a time limit?" Lily asked, sniffling.

"Well, it should not be too much time in between. Normally, all parties are together, when the questions are asked and then the ritual follows," Gabriel replied to her honestly.

"What happens if I do not do it, so ... if I refuse?" Gabriel's remorse grew larger. It was hard for him to answer Lily's question.

"You'll be punished," he said hesitantly.

Lily was silent. Gabriel could only imagine what was going on in her head. He was now her master, and when she refused, he must punish her. But Gabriel knew already that he could not and would not. He would try to get her not to refuse. And avoid at all costs, that someone would noticed Lily's refusal. Because if he did not, it would be noticed by another alliance and they would punish the whole group. He was not afraid of his punishment, even if it would be painful, but for worried about Lily. She would not be able to cope.

Gabriel stroked above the almost healed wounds on her neck. She winced slightly. Even though he knew that it could no longer be the case, he asked her anyway. "Does it still hurt?"

"No."

"Lily, it will not hurt. I promise you," Gabriel said gravely, and then continued in a lighter tone, "I will give you the choice of bite." Had he gone mad? During the ritual it was stipulated that it had to be a special kind of bite: the neutral bite. And now he gave Lily the choice? Now he could not get out of it. What was he thinking?

Timidly Lily replied to him: "There are four different kinds, right?"

Gabriel took a deep breath and replied: "Three. There are three to choose."

"Didn´t you say that there are four?" Lily asked, frowning and thinking hard.

"Yes, but one is not up for discussion."

"What?" That should be obvious to her which bite was out of the question. But he still gave her the answer.

"The painful one."

"Yeah," she said shyly, then continued, "is a certain bite scheduled for this ritual?"

"Yes, the neutral bite," he answered truthfully.

Lily seemed to reflect on that answer and Gabriel did not urge her to continue to talk to him. He had missed her presence and her talks in the last week so much that he did not think she stopped him to ask questions, just to hear her voice.

"Um ... when Azrael bit me, which bite was it?" she asked hesitantly, "I cannot really remember how it was. I just remember that it was not bad."

Azrael had been right, she had blocked it out. Gabriel had never before experienced that a human could forget a vampire bite whether it was combined with good feelings or painful. But now in Lily's mind was probably only focused on the painful bite.

"I think the one which feels good," Gabriel said.

Gabriel's left hand had not left Lily's waist and he held her still in an embrace. His right hand still rested gently on her neck and stroked gently over the healing wounds unconsciously. Lily's arms were on his upper body and her fingers played with his shirt. Her gaze was fixed on her fingers as she again asked a question.

"Could you show me before ... before this ritual ..." Lily swallowed once. "... how does... your bite feel?"

Did this mean she would do it? That she would not refuse? If she wanted to know before how it felt, he would be the last one who stands in the way.

"Yes. Whenever you want?"

Lily took a deep breath. "Now?"

Well, that he had not expected. Gabriel nodded slowly and looked at her closely. "And which of the three bites do you want?"

Lily looked him in the eye. "I'm not sure. The one that feels good. Um ... then maybe you could do it at the same place as ..." Lily did not finish the sentence, but Gabriel knew what she meant. And he would do it.

"Lily, why the same place?" Gabriel had to ask anyway.

"Because ... because ... I would like to retain no memory of him. I ... There are only two vampires, who I trust and if I already have bite marks on my body, then I wish it to be only from the two of you." Lily said first stammered and then spoke more vigorously.

"Well," he said approvingly and smiled at her. "Lily, each bite is at first, shall we say, unpleasant." He still had to tell her before he would bite her. Otherwise, she could become tense and defend against it, and then it would hurt, and Gabriel could not prevent that.

Lily nodded understandingly and breathed deeply. The old vampire didn´t let her out of his view when he slowly moved down to her neck. Just before he had to break their eye contact, she held him suddenly by placing her hands on his cheeks.

"Don´t I need to give you permission beforehand?" Lily asked, excitedly and found herself distracted by it. Her heart beat faster and a hint of fear was in the air. She took several deep breaths and her fear vanished.

"No, Lily. Your master does not need permission," Gabriel said, gravely, and looked straight in her eye.

Her hands let go of his face and found their way back to the front of his shirt, where they had previously been. Gabriel bowed his head even lower, during which he gently stroked her carotid artery. Her heart began to beat faster again, but he smelled no trace of fear. Finally he reached the spot with his mouth. He did not know what prompted his actions, but just before he bite, he kissed the skin fondly. Gabriel felt her briefly tense, as his teeth pierced through her soft skin.

With every sip, which he drank, Lily became relaxed and eventually he had to hold her, so she wouldn´t collapse. He could not drink too much of her blood, because she could not lose large amount of blood or she would become sick. And Gabriel did not know when they would perform the ritual officially. Only too clearly he could feel her. Her heartbeat, her warmth, her smell, her arms twined around his neck, her body pressed against his and her moans. Her moans? How could he forget himself? How could that happen? He was no longer a young vampire who did not know what he did during a bite? Abruptly he stopped and carefully pulled his fangs from the two wounds, pressed carefully with his tongue over the wound and muttered a quiet: "Sorry!"

Lily said nothing, she still had to concentrate on her breathing. Gabriel still held his head bent just above her neck, so he didn´t have to look her in the eye, because he had abused her trust. She said that she wanted a bite that felt good. But what he had given her? Of course, a bite that felt good. But only too good. If he had not stopped now, she would had an orgasm in his arms.

The seconds passed, and Lily's breathing again reached its normal state. First, she only brought out a surprised "Wow" and then she said slightly embarrassed, but not angrily, "Well, that bite isn´t suitable for the ritual, especially not when Jack and Azrael are there!"

She was not mad at him. Gabriel felt a load lift off his mind. He said approvingly: "No, no way!" One more time he kissed the place on her neck. Lily shook briefly, and he could not suppress a smile.

Gabriel raised his head and looked into her eyes, in which he could see no allegations or accusations.

"This was the fourth one, right?" Lily said, without accusations and Gabriel nodded.

"That was not fair that you ... that you stopped so soon!" Lily said with a grin and mischievous laugh.

On Gabriel's face also appeared a grin. "No, it was not, but I can change it." With these words, Gabriel bowed his head again and Lily let out a startled "No". Gabriel paused in his movement. He had not really planned to continue his bite. How should he understand this no? Of course, it meant no, but was she mad at him?

Tense he lifted his head again and forced himself to look into her eyes. She was not mad, but she felt uncomfortable. She'd only want to lighten the mood when she had asked her mischievous question. There was a side of Gabriel, which wanted to continue this teasing game and the other side of him seriously and literally screamed at him that he should actually carry through and bite anyway. He was her master!

This bite happened. She was not mad at him, but now he should let her go. He had no right to hold her longer in his arms. But he could not help it, after all her arms were still around his neck. With her fingertips, she played with his hair. Was it just a subconscious reaction?

Gabriel forced himself to let go slowly. When his arms reluctantly left her waist, Lily quickly released her arms. She looked down, avoiding his gaze. When he released her, she swayed a little and now his hands again went around her waist to hold her.

"I feel a bit dizzy," Lily said quietly, but avoided any eye contact.

"Yes," Gabriel replied softly, "That will soon pass. I did not drink a lot of blood." Lily nodded understandingly.

Gabriel's senses were focused on the long corridor. Azrael and Jack were on their way to them. Whether to Jack's or Lily´s room he couldn´t tell yet.

"Jack and Azrael are coming," he informed Lily.

Jack had gone with Albin in the city to pick up the clothes for the wedding celebration," Lily said in explanation, and told him that Jack would knock at any moment at Lily's door.

Gabriel released his grip to see if Lily could stand alone. Apparently, her dizziness had evaporated. So he let go completely and precisely at the moment there was a knock at the door.

"Come in, Jack," Lily said with a slightly shaky voice.

Azrael and Jack entered the room. Jack smiled at her and when he saw Gabriel, he smiled even wider. "You have finally talked to each other," the guardian said pleased, but the next moment he discovered the fresh bite marks on Lily's neck. Jack would not be a good watchdog, if he had not noticed. Azrael looked first at Lily and then at Gabriel, but did not say a word. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully together, and Gabriel knew he had to talk to him because it was not difficult to recognize for a vampire, which bite it was. Lily's body betrayed them.

"What?" Jack said, slightly confused and Lily spoke immediately. "I wanted to know what a normal bite felt like and Gabriel has shown me."

"Okay," Jack said understandingly, and then added more, "Albin told me that I if I should explore bite marks on you, I must ask whether it was voluntary, and if it occured in accordance with the rules. So, did you give Gabriel permission?"

Jack seemed to think, because actually it was not customary for a vampire biting into the neck of a Valkyrie. Unless he was her master. So Jack went on, without giving Lily a chance to answer his question. "Why the neck?"

Lily took a deep breath and then told him the same reason she had also told Gabriel. Jack nodded understandingly. "Lily, I trust you and also you two," Jack looked briefly at Gabriel and then to Azrael, "but I must follow the rules. So, did you give Gabriel your permission?"

"I wanted it," Lily answered back to him. Gabriel wanted to say something, but he knew he could not interfere now. It related to Valkyrie and guardian, even if he was her master.

"Lily," Jack began with understanding, "I know that. But did you give him permission?"

Lily took a deep breath. "No."

Jack did not seem to know what to think or say. His gaze swung back and forth to Gabriel and Lily. "What?" Finally there was his outraged quick question. "Gabriel, how could you?"

"Jack, I no longer need to ask Lily for permission. She is my student," Gabriel said firmly.

Jack calmed down quickly, when he had internalized Gabriel's words. Gabriel could not help but curse inwardly. It all went wrong. It shouldn´t happen like this. This messed up conversation with Lily about the alliance, then the argument with Lily, and his question, then that bite and last but not least, the situation with Jack. It had to stop.


	28. Wedding

**Thank you for your reviews. **

**Jat, thanks a lot for your help beta-reading my translated chapters. **

**Translated: Cleo28**

**Beta: Moonjat54**

**28. Wedding**

"Agatha, where is Catharina?" Lily asked the maidservant, who was still frantically preparing the food for the wedding ceremony.

"She wanted to go to the grave of her mother," Agatha answered Lily's question briefly and then turned her attention back to the saucepan. When Lily was about to leave the kitchen, she nearly collided with a boy who was bringing a basket of fruit into the room hurriedly. He politely excused himself and hurried past Lily.

Lily took the shortest route out of the building and entered the courtyard. She squinted into the morning sun. In her right hand she held a dress. A dress for Catharina. It was the same material and the same color as Lily's dress. When they had learned more than a week ago, that Walter would marry, Svafa had commanded that Lily should wear a dress which was customary for Valkyries to this celebration. Svafa, Lily and Catharina would wear white dresses. Lily was not comfortable with the idea, because when she went to a wedding, the white dress was reserved for the bride. But not in the Middle Ages. Jack had told her that this tradition wearing a white dress at a woman´s wedding wasn´t so strange. Also Lily had asked Jack, why the dress had to be white and Jack replied that the swans would be white. Vaguely Lily could remember the fact that Valkyries were called swan maidens, also.

Svafa hadn´t ordered Catharina to wear white because as she explained it, there was such antagonism between Walter and the Order. On the one hand Lily hated having to wear this dress to the wedding because Svafa had ordered it, but on the other hand, she liked the dress very much.

A few days ago they had ridden into town and had ordered the dress for Lily from the tailor. Lily knew that Catharina would not wear a festive dress, but just one of her everyday dresses. Walter deemed that it was not necessary that his daughter should wear a beautiful dress on his wedding day and therefore didn´t allow a new dress ordered for her. So, Lily asked the tailor if he knew Catharina's size and requested that a second dress be made for the girl, too. Lily wanted to give it Catharina, because the girl had become so dear to her heart, that it simply was a good idea and she wanted to make her happy.

Yesterday Jack and Albin had picked up the clothes. The tailor had done good work in record time. Of course, Svafa also received a new dress. The clothes were the same color, but they differed in the laces and embellishments.

Lily paused, undecided in front of the small door in the castle wall, truthfully, she should not leave the castle alone. And Catharina had also not been given permission to leave either. If Lily was caught or something would happen again, this time there would be definite punishment. Lily knew that this prohibition was not meant to harass her, but because it was dangerous and the last attack had made that abundantly clear. Courageously, she reached for the doorknob and pushed it down.

Lily walked purposefully across the lawn and headed for the spot where the grave of Catharina's mother was. Her thoughts wandered and she mused again about how it was possible that she had said yes instead of no. She had been one hundred percent committed at the time, to not enter into this alliance. When Gabriel had asked her the question, her mind was thinking no, but her lips had formed the word yes. Was it because she maybe had subconsciously wanted this? Had she not wanted to risk her friendship with Gabriel and Azrael subconsciously? Or had Gabriel been right? Was fate responsible? Had fate changed her no to a yes?

Lily pushed the thoughts aside, when she reached Catharina. The teenager was sitting leaning against the hazelnut tree, staring pensively into the distance. Fresh summer flowers lay on the grave. Lily hid the dress for Catharina behind her back. It should be a surprise.

"Hello," Lily said gently and Catharina jumped up, startled by Lily. She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn´t want to frighten you."

Catharina nodded and a smile came to her lips. Lily came even closer to Catharina. "My mother didn´t love my father. And my father also doesn´t love this new woman. In the songs they always sing of love. But most marriages are not made for love, but for social or political reasons," the girl said with a sigh. "If I marry one day, I would like to marry a man whom I love and who loves me. But that probably will not happen."

Lily had often thought that two people didn't join in the covenant of marriage without love in this time period, but for other reasons. She did not know what to say. For Lily, it was clear that she would never marry a man she did not love. She was convinced that somewhere was waiting her love, her soulmate. She just had to find him.

"Who knows, maybe you will be lucky," Lily said to her and she smiled confidently. The girl gave her a sad smile back.

Lily took a deep breath. "Today's a happy day. We are celebrating a wedding, and after all the terrible things that have happened in recent times, it's great that we have something that we can look forward to. And I'm sure you'll be on very good terms with the new wife of your father." Lily tried to cheer her up. She really was looking forward to the festival. For once, something joyful was happening. For a short time she could relax and have fun, to finally forget the terrible things for a short while.

"I do not know", Catharina stammered, "maybe she will not like me."

"I´m sure she likes you, Catharina. You're a lovely girl", Lily said with conviction.

"Are you really sure?" She asked again doubtfully.

"Yeah, I´m really sure," Lily responded to her question and continued happily, "there´s a good reason why I've been looking for you." Lily grinned broadly. She was curious to see how she would react. Catharina looked at her questioningly.

"I have a gift for you."

"Really? But ... But why? Your gift for my birthday was all ready too much for me ... Of course, I was very happy, but ..." Catharina stammered.

"No buts," Lily said sternly, and then added gently, "don´t you want to know what it is?"

Catharina nodded excitedly and stood up, her excitement and her joy growing. Lily smiled at her. Slowly, she pulled the dress out from behind her back and said explaining: "I thought that you should also have a new dress and I know you're to be a Valkyrie also, so it is in white."

Catharina's eyes widened when she saw the dress and gasped for air. Seconds later, her tears of joy sprang up in his eyes and hugged Lily in gratitude. "Thanks," she said with enthusiasm and at this moment Lily knew she had made the right decision given Catharina this dress.

"You're welcome!" Lily said. "I think we should head back to the castle, so that we don't get into trouble."

The teenager nodded and said slightly embarrassed: "I do not know what else to say ..."

"A thank you is perfect enough." Lily replied with an honest smile.

On their way back to the castle Catharina thanked her several times for Lily's gift. They quickly slipped through the small door and the next moment they stood in the courtyard. Apparently no one had noticed their absence. Well, Agatha knew they were gone, but the guards had done a poor job of knowing they had gone. Or had they thought that they were allowed to leave the castle and enter when they wanted?

The next moment Lily saw a brown stallion galloping past them, ridden by a man whom she had not seen here before. His dark hair reached down to his shoulders. He was not wearing plain clothes, but that of a nobleman or a wealthy citizen.

Elegantly, he dismounted from his horse and looked around briefly. Grooms ran to him and led his horse into the barn. The stranger saw Lily and Catharina and approached slowly with a friendly smile for them. Lily was not sure how she should behave, because she could not classify this man, whoever he was.

It was all ready too late to disappear quickly. In a charming manner, he greeted the two with the words: "To be welcomed by two very lovely ladies, is something I did not expect" He bowed slightly.

Lily just stood there as if rooted to the ground. Should she remain silent or say something? Medieval manners were still so confusing to her. However, this man did not behave exactly as expected.

"Has the cat got your tongue? I hope that I'm not the reason", the stranger said in a friendly manner in a playfully offended tone.

Lily cleared her throat and tried to remember the medieval forms of greeting. "Good day, sir. Welcome to the Castle Everstein. What´s the honor of Your visit?"

A smile appeared on his lips and he looked directly into Lily's eyes as he replied: "Pardon me, madam. I would first like to introduce myself. My name is Thrain. Michael and Diann sent me a message that they needed my help."

Lily nodded understandingly. She had heard that Gabriel and Diann sent for other vampires. And she had read his name in the dictionary entry. He was a vampire. And also a very handsome vampire. Michael? Did he mean Gabriel? There was no one who lived here who was called Michael.

"May I also learn your name?" He asked after a brief period of silence.

"My name is Lily and this is Catharina."

Lily knew that Catharina had tried to make herself invisible, but he had noticed her. He had definitely perceived her and he asked not only for Lily's name, but also for her name.

"It is my pleasure to meet You." He said, and bowed a second time.

"Thrain!" A delighted voice sounded from the entrance of the castle, "you got here faster than I thought."

Thrain turned and Lily saw that Diann hurried to the strange vampire. The vampires shook hands and hugged each other like brothers.

"Diann, you should have mentioned in your message that such pretty girls live here," he said reproachfully, and he quickly glanced at Lily and Catharina.

Diann shook his head. "Still the old charmer." The vampire just shrugged his shoulders.

"Where's Michael?"

"Gabriel", Diann corrected him, "he now calls himself Gabriel."

"Well, where is Gabriel?"

"Here!" Gabriel's voice was heard now and Lily sighed with relief. She felt uncomfortable to be alone with Thrain and Diann, not because they were vampires, but because she wasn´t familiar with the rules of medieval society. From how the two vampires greeted each other and dealt with each other it was evident that they had known each other for a long time and were friends, too. Thrain was a friend of Gabriel.

"It will certainly be of interest to you, that Sullivan and Fido will also arrive soon. I saw them when I left the city to ride to this castle", Thrain reported to the old vampire. Gabriel nodded understandingly.

Meanwhile, Azrael came over to them. They all seemed to know each other well. Lily did not know whether to stay or to go inside. She decided to leave. But she was prevented from leaving the small group by a grip on her arm and she was shocked to see it was Gabriel who held her. She hadn´t been around him since the bite. After they had told Azrael and Jack what happened he had left the room. Catharina just reached the entrance and went inside.

"Thrain, may I introduce you my new student Lilian Bonengel?" Gabriel said amiably, but hidden in his tone was something that Lily could not explain and it was apparently intended for Thrain. Lily felt uncomfortable. She did not know what to make of the fact that Gabriel introduced her as his student. Since yesterday she had become his student, but she hadn't adjusted yet to the idea. And she tried not to think obsessively about what it meant. She could not blame Gabriel. She had forced him to ask the question to which she had replied with yes.

"We already had the pleasure. But she did not say to me that she´s your student," Thrain replied with gentle reproach in his voice.

Lily ignored Thrain´s statement and tried to say confidently: "I must change my clothes. Please excuse me", her voice trembled slightly, and it certainly didn´t escape the notice of the four vampires. They looked at her curiously. Gabriel nodded and let go of her arm. It had not been a firm grip and she could have easily shaken him off. Apparently Thrain had indicated with his facial expressions a question that now Gabriel answered: "My castellan marries today."

"Oh, a celebration. I have come at the right moment", the foreign vampire said, when Lily walked up the stairs to the entrance.

Almost running she went to her room, arrived and closed the door and standing uncertainly in her room. Relieved, she took several deep breaths. Lily didn´t expect that she would feel so uncomfortable in Gabriel´s presence after that bite. And his touch didn´t make the whole thing easier. Although the word uncomfortable didn´t describe it properly. She felt so self-conscious, it was embarrassing that Gabriel had experienced such an intimate side of her.

She forced her thoughts and feelings aside. Finally today, a wedding was to be celebrated. And today she wanted to have fun and just forget everything else and experience a wonderful time.

She opened the knot of the tie that fastened her dress together over her chest. She let it drop down and stepped out of the dress that fell like a wreath around her feet. She quickly picked it up and went to her bed where lay the white dress. Hesitantly, she wondered whether she should wear it. It was really beautiful, she liked it and surprisingly, she liked the idea that she would wear a Valkyrie dress. But this command from Svafa had bugged her and made her angry. That uppity bitch! Lily's pride wanted to reject wearing this beautiful dress, but on the other hand, it created trouble if she did not wear it today and she wanted no more trouble. She wanted fun. So she grabbed her dress and pulled it over her head. Lily began to work the lacings. Her dress was not really white, it was more like cream and the decorations were woven with a silver ribbon in the fabric. The ribbon that held together the robe, was also silver. Embroidered flowers ran along the hem of the dress, the sleeves and the neckline. The flowers were lilies. However, the lilies were not shown as they were known by coat of arms, but rather natural. They curled like a string around Lily, as she wore the dress.

There was a knock at the door, but before she opened it, she looked around again, if there was anything around that no one was allowed to see from that her era. Agatha smiled at her and said immediately, even before the doors had opened properly. "I thought to myself that I would come help give you a pretty hair style. You look really beautiful in that dress."

Lily smiled back at her and let her inside. Lily sat down on a chair and Agatha began to comb her hair. Lily could feel her work to put her hair up, suddenly Agatha stopped. "I had forgotten about that", she said, more to herself than to Lily.

"What?" Lily persisted.

Agatha touched the bite marks and Lily exhaled. "But we'll make it work."

Agatha broke free some strands from the updo, and they fell on Lily's shoulder. After a while Agatha stopped and sighed: "It´s done. You look beautiful." She held out a small mirror to Lily. Agatha had managed to hide the bite marks, but without being obvious. Isolated strands hung down from her head and her hair was artfully arranged. Lily thanked Agatha and the next moment there was a knock on the door again. Agatha, who wanted to go now anyway, hurried to the door and let in the person that was there. Lily stood up and turned around to see who was at the door. But before she could even see who was there, she heard Jack's voice.

"Lily, are you ready? Any moment the celebration ..." Jack stopped in the middle of a sentence, as Lily had turned around and then released an enthusiastic "Wow"

"What?"

"Wow, you look fantastic, Lily!" Jack complimented her and a smile appeared on Lily's face.

"You don´t look too bad in these ceremonial, medieval clothes."

Jack gave her his arm and asked: "Shall we?" She grabbed his arm, nodded and they left the room.

In the small chapel of the castle there was not much space and most seats were already occupied. Lily discovered Catharina, who was sitting in the front row, beaming at Lily when she discovered them. The teenager looked great in her dress. Lily wanted to go to her and sit beside her, but Jack took her to a different direction. There was a separate part of the altar area, which was reserved for the lord of the manor and his family. Her gaze was still directed at Catharina, when Azrael spoke to her.

"Lily, we should celebrate festivals more often. You look beautiful." Lily's gaze turned around to Azrael, who smiled at her. Azrael had never given her a compliment before, or at least never when it came to her appearance. Lily thanked him with a smile.

Then Gabriel stood in front of her, and her heart began to beat a little faster. She could not prevent it from doing so. Gabriel looked at her in puzzlement and he did not say a word. Didn´t he like her dress and her hairstyle? Didn´t he think she looked beautiful, like Jack and Azrael did? Disappointment spread inside her and the next moment she shook her head at herself. What did it matter whether Gabriel liked her appearance?

They sat down. Gabriel was sitting right next to Azrael. Jack guided her to the seat next to Gabriel and Jack sat down next to Lily. Gabriel had still said not a word. Why not? Not even a greeting. Lily's disappointment came back and she felt ill at ease with each second that passed. She wanted to leave this place, this chapel. She wanted to be as far away as possible.

But suddenly she heard Gabriel's voice in her head. `Lily, you look stunning.' Lily's heart made a little jump. 'Thank you', she replied to him and a smile appeared on her face.

The ceremony began and to Lily's horror, she discovered that the self-righteous bishop was performing the ceremony. Lily was not happy about it. She chatted mentally with Gabriel during the ceremony. They talked about everything, except about the alliance, or what had happened yesterday at the bite. It was a normal conversation, as they had done before. Until this moment, she had not noticed how much she had missed it.

After the ceremony the newlywed couple were congratulated by everyone and Lily also learned the name of the bride. Her name was Martha. She wore a blue, beautiful and certainly expensive dress. At first glance, Martha seemed to be very nice, but then Lily noticed how both Walter and Martha reacted to Catharina, and Lily's opinion changed dramatically. Walter´s behavior was normal. "Catharina, from where did you get this dress?", Walter asked angrily.

"Lily gave it to me," she said sheepishly.

"First, you should call her Lilian and second, you were not allowed to wear such a dress!" the castellan said strictly. Lily could not help herself and had to interfere.

"Walter, first, I allowed Catharina to call me Lily and second, it is impolite to refuse a gift," Lily said determined and Walter´s eyes flashed angrily.

Walter just wanted to start saying something, when Gabriel turned to him. "Is there a problem?"

"No, Your Highness. There is no problem." Walter said intimidated. Gabriel nodded satisfied and took Lily with him. Lily looked back and Catharina smiled at her gratefully but turned away the next moment because Martha spoke to her. "Catharina, if you follow the rules, we will probably get along well together." Lily didn´t like Martha's tone. It was cold and repellent. Apparently, the two, Walter and Martha, fit together really well. But it wasn´t good for Catharina.

At the banquet were everyone was relatively quiet and it began to get late, because some just did not want to stop eating. Finally, the musicians began to play music. Lily knew this music from movies. It was not exactly her idea of good music, but at least it was music. Interested, Lily watched the people dancing. First they danced in Ring around the Rosie style that she knew from her childhood days and then couples stood in rows and did all of the same movements. They bowed to each other, went around each other and followed after each other. Lily probably would not dance now, at least not if this couples dance was taking place.

Lily was sitting almost alone at the table. Gabriel spoke to Diann at another table. Jack had to deal with Albin. Perhaps Lily's expectations have been too big, because she was bored. She reached for her cup and took a gulp of wine and drank it. She reached for the pitcher and poured more wine.

"Do you want to get drunk?" Azrael asked teasingly. Lily did not answer him.

Azrael sat down beside her and then said slowly: "Lily, can I talk to you?"

"Sure," she answered him. She enjoyed talking with Azrael. Why did he ask her to talk to her at all?

"Mentally" he added, and Lily looked at him surprised. He wanted to talk to her about something that not everyone should overhear. Only what about? Lily nodded in agreement.

Azrael took a deep breath. 'I'm not sure how to begin', Azrael began the mental conversation. 'Why did you choose that bite?'

She had told Jack and Azrael, that she had chosen the bite, but not which one. How did Azrael know which bite it was? Did Gabriel tell him? Lily's heart beat faster and she felt her cheeks turn red colored.

'I ... uh ... I ...', Lily stammered in her mind.

Full understanding Azrael continued. 'Lily, I really can understand your curiosity well. And I do not know why Gabriel did this, because normally, a master does not give his student this bite, to cause those feelings.'

'How do you know this? I mean, how do you know which bite it was?' Lily asked now. She had to know how he knew it.

'Lily, I'm a vampire ...' Azrael hesitated. 'Your body betrayed the nature of the bite. I could smell it.' Lily gasped and she felt uncomfortable in her skin. She knew that vampires could smell very well, but could they also smell the ... she didn´t want to think further about that.

'Lily, I know it is not pleasant for you to talk about this with me. And I've been thinking that you were not aware of it because you behaved normally towards me. I could feel that you yourself have felt uncomfortable in Gabriel's presense which is normally not the case and I think that had to do with the bite.' Azrael was waiting for a response from Lily. She nodded shyly.

Then the Assassin said: 'If only Gabriel and I were here, there would be no problem. But there are other vampires here. Whether these feelings are now caused by a bite or because of natural responses, you should know that vampires perceive it and then it even can partially see in their mind's eye what is happening. This also happened in other cases. So, if you should have sex, wash yourself thoroughly afterwards if you do not want them to know what you've done.'

Lily nodded in understanding and at the same time she was also grateful that Azrael told her. 'Did ... you see it in your mind's eye?' Lily said hoping that it was not the case. She liked Azrael. He was her friend. Knowing that he could have seen her in such an intimate situation was somewhat different.

Azrael nodded, then squinted painfully honest and Lily closed her eyes. 'Lily, you must not be embarrassed. Your body has responded to this bite. It was quite natural. Truthfully I've only seen that Gabriel has bitten you and I feel the way you reacted to it.'

Azrael suddenly stood up and greeted politely, but not necessarily happily a new arrival. Lily's gaze swung to the two men who stood in front of her. This had to be Sullivan and Fido who Thrain had mentioned earlier. She had read these names in the dictionary entry, as well. Lily watched as they greeted each other and learned who was who.

Fido looked like a servant. He was standing a foot behind Sullivan. He was small and looked at Lily curiously. She didn´t like the way his eyes studied her. Sullivan did not notice her at all. She immediately noticed that one of his eyes was black. Lily could not help staring. These two men were unfriendly. The way they behaved and how they were speaking, was just unappealing. This arrogance was unbearable. On the one hand Lily was very happy that this Sullivan wasn´t interested in her, but then it was also offensive.

"Sullivan, may I ..." Azrael began politely, as he had intended to introduce Lily to him. But Sullivan interrupted him harshly. "No, you are not allowed. I don´t want to know your favorite blood donor."

"That wasn´t my intention!" Azrael replied unusually angry and then continued, "Lily is a Valkyrie. You should have recognized that by the color of her dress."

Sullivan looked briefly at Lily and then said deprecatingly. "I do not care whether she is a Valkyrie or not." On Azrael's face appeared a brief mischievous smile and he said: "As you wish. I will not force you to be introduced to someone you do not want to know."

The unattractive vampire did not respond to Azrael's statement and said undeterred: "Azrael, you should take me to Gabriel."

Azrael obeyed this request, and Lily was once again alone at the table. Although this wasn´t quite correct because Thrain sat two chairs away facing her. When did he sit down there?

"They don´t like each other. And in your place I would stay clear of their disputes. Don´t get in the crossfire. Just some well-intentioned advice", Thrain said sincerely and slid into a chair, which stood across from Lily. She liked this vampire. She could not say what it was, but she liked him. He seemed to be friendly, honest and to have a good character.

"It´s not my intention." Lily replied honestly.

"You never know what will come. However, I also believe that Azrael will not allow it. And he would sacrifice himself for you." Thrain said thoughtfully.

Silence spread. In Lily's mind again formed questions, but she did not want to ask them of this vampire. She found him sympathetic, but did not trust him yet. Perhaps she would at some point, but still she did not know him.

Suddenly he took a breath, stood up, bowed briefly and said in a casual tone: "May I have this dance?" Dancing? She could not dance in this way and then certainly not with a strange vampire?

"Um ... I cannot dance." Lily dodged.

"I do not think so. Anyone can dance. Or is it that you do not want to dance with me?"

Lily would really like to dance and none of her friends had asked her. Jack didn´t certainly do it, because he did not know these dances either. But Gabriel and Azreal ... She had truly had nothing against dancing with Thrain.

"No, it´s not because of you. I don´t know this dance and I would ruin your rhythm." Lily replied honestly.

"I'll teach you!" The vampire said with a sincere smile and held out his hand to Lily. Lily chewed nervously on her lip. Finally, she took Thrain´s hand, got up and move on the dance floor. Lily wanted to have fun and dancing was fun.

Thrain told her every step, with patient friendliness. After a short while Lily knew the steps. This dance was unusual, but it was fun. While dancing Lily looked around in the great hall. She saw how Walter and Martha sat at the bridal table and talked with the bishop. Catharina sat at another table with Agatha and Johann. After their hard work which took days preparing the wedding, they could finally celebrate. Jack sat bored next to Albin; who seemed constantly to control the conversation between him and Ferdinand. Jack gave her a smile, which Lily answered with a smile, too. Yesterday Jack was at first quite angry and hurt to have been excluded when Gabriel announced that he was her master now. But after she had talked, his anger vanished. They had all four together decided that after the wedding they would join the alliance and before talk about everything.

Svafa was talking to a woman who seemed familiar to Lily. She just did not know from where she knew her. Then it occurred to her. She was one of the blood donors. Other women were sitting next to her. Then her eyes flew to Gabriel. He sat with Diann, Azrael, Sullivan and Fido at the table and they were talking. Azrael also gave her a smile as he saw her on the dance floor. But Gabriel did not seem to be observed. Disappointed, Lily turned away her eyes from Gabriel. Something was wrong. He had not ever behaved this way towards her before. Had the bite destroyed their friendship? This bite which she hadn't requested? Why did he do it? Why had he apologized to her afterwards? Did she perhaps trigger it with her blood? Could it be? She simply knew too little about it.

Musicians stopped playing to take a break. Thrain accompanied Lily back to her place. They talked for a while and when the music start again, he asked her to dance again. The dance did not last long, because Azrael suddenly stood beside them and asked Thrain to let him have this dance with Lily. Lily was glad that Azrael wanted to dance with her. Or was it because he did not like that she danced with Thrain?

"Azrael, why are you dancing with me now?" Lily asked, and added with emphasis, "the truth!"

Azrael smiled at her and said honestly: "Actually I had planned to dance with you before, but then we were interrupted by Sullivan and then Thrain asked you first. And now the conversation is over, I finally had the chance to dance with you."

Lily smiled at him. She believed him. "What were you talking about?" Lily asked now.

"About the Veri Mundi Domini and what we can do about it."

Lily enjoyed dancing with Azrael. It amused her and she wanted to forget everything else now. After some time, Azrael suggested Lily sit down again, because she just needed a break. When she sat at the table again, Lily recognized that Walter and Martha left the great hall, followed by Gabriel.

Azrael had noticed Lily's questioning look, as he answered her burgeoning question of why they left the hall. "It is time that the bride and groom leave the celebration for their wedding night consumation."

"But why ..."

"Gabriel has followed them? In order to claim his rights." Azrael said in explanation.

To claim his right? But Gabriel could not that! Lily knew that Gabriel would want to make clear that Walter knew his position, and it could also be seen as a punishment for his previous behavior. But what about Martha? Lily did not like her, but to sleep with a man on her wedding night, she did not know, that she did not care for. Martha had nothing to do with Walter's behavior. And something else deep inside Lily screamed. She did not want Gabriel to sleep with this woman. She knew that she had no right to feel something like that, but she did.

Lily did not allow Azrael an opportunity to respond. She quickly got up and ran after Gabriel. She heard Azrael exclaimed from behind her: "Lily, wait!" But she did not react to it. When she arrived the hallway and she could see no one, so she ran down the corridor. Breathless, she reached Gabriel and grabbed his arm, shortly before he could enter the sleeping quarters of Walter. Gabriel looked at her in surprise.

"Lily, what are you doing here?"

"Gabriel, you cannot do this." Lily said gasping for air.

"Lily, it is my right and I can do it." Gabriel said firmly and tried gently to push her hand away from his arm.

Lily stood in front of him and blocked his entrance. "No," Lily said loudly.

"Lily, get out of my way!" Gabriel said with a commanding voice.

"No! Perhaps it is your right, but that does not mean you have to do this. Do you think about it what that means for Martha?"

Gabriel shook his head, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. "You protect a woman you don´t know?"

"Whether I know her or not. Whether I like her or not, is irrelevant. It's about morality," she said to him angrily.

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Lily, I do not want to argue with you. Get out of my way! That's an order!"

"No," Lily said in a firm voice, looking at him resolutely. Gabriel then picked her up and set her down on the other side. Now Gabriel stood between Lily and the door. "We will talk later about your disobedience!" Gabriel promised in a threatening voice. Anger bubbled in Lily. Had Gabriel actually always been such a bastard? Was she so wrong about him in recent weeks, since she had met and known him?

With an angry voice, she threw the next words at his head. "You behave like a tyrant, whose feelings of his subjects are completely irrelevant. And I do not want to be friends with a tyrant!"

Lily turned and stomped angrily back to the great hall. When she stood outside the door, she took several deep breaths. When she got her anger back under control, she entered the room. The people were happy at the party and had noticed nothing of the dispute. She could go straight to the table where Azrael and Thrain sat and talked or she could also go to Jack, but he was still sitting at Albin´s table. In her current state of mind that would only cause problems because she would probably express her opinion to Albin and Svafa. However, Jack had been caught long enough with Albin, so she made a bow, and seconds later stood in front of Jack.

"Jack, I can I talk with you?"

Jack gave her a grateful smile and stood up immediately. "Of course!" Together they went to where Azrael, sat down and automatically started a conversation between them and Thrain. Lily's anger had been converted into disappointment and she tried not to show it. Lily was sitting with her back to the dance floor and her eyes fell on the stone wall. The table was on the edge of the room. Suddenly the three men fell silent and Lily wondered briefly why, but quickly got an answer.

"I think it is about time that I dance with my student. Lily, may I have this dance?" Gabriel said gently behind her.

Lily turned quickly and gave him only an approving nod. He was here! He had changed his mind. He was here with her! He wanted to dance with her! Lily's heart leaped.

A short time later, she was on the dance floor. More and more Lily became used to the steps.

"You learn quickly." Gabriel gave her a compliment, and she smiled back.

"Well, it's not so hard."

"No, but it is if you consider that you have just learned it." Gabriel said friendly.

Lily wanted badly asking him why he changed his mind. But she did not want to destroy this moment. And she also wanted to ask him what triggered these feelings during the bite. She could not ask now because other vampires were here in this room. They would be able to hear it. Azrael had talked to her mentally. She would have to wait.

The celebration lasted all night and Gabriel stood outside in the courtyard, just before sunrise. The first birds began to chirp already. Azrael came up to him and Gabriel turned his head to the Assassin. They were alone and no other vampire was within earshot, as Azrael asked his question.

"Why did you follow Lilys´s request and bit her that way?"

Gabriel knew that sooner or later Azrael would ask him about it. He was really grateful to him he had said nothing. Gabriel took a deep breath. Should he tell him the truth or not? He trusted Azrael and he knew that the young vampire would do everything possible to protect Lily.

"She did not asked me for that bite. She wanted a bite that felt good ..." Gabriel breathed deeply through, "but it just happened. It was not intentional ... I do not know what I was doing ...when I've noticed it, I broke it ..." Gabriel answered his question honestly and he could not stop that the guilt and lack of understanding sounded in his voice.

Azrael was silent. Gabriel could see he was thinking. "Yes, that was one thing that I did not quite understand why you stopped it..."

More Azrael did not say. If he had an explanation for it, he kept to himself.

"Why have you changed your mind? Why did you listen to Lily and didn´t claim for your right of the first night?" Azrael asked curiously and Gabriel gave him only a cryptic response.

"It reminded me of something I had almost forgotten."

Both were silent again. Slowly appeared the first rays of the sun, and both were beginning to head into the castle, when Azrael told Gabriel his conversation with Sullivan and how he had behaved towards Lily. Gabriel knew Sullivan very well and his behavior was no surprise. Gabriel had not had the opportunity to introduce Lily correctly. He had been in conversations with Diann and had noticed only in retrospect, what had happened. Gabriel would make up for it tomorrow and introduce Lily to Sullivan correctly. Then Sullivan would be required to behave differently towards Lily. Gabriel knew that Azrael hadn´t told him this to make Sullivan look bad. He had done it for Lily. Lily did not deserve this disrespect, and definitely not because she was his student.


End file.
